Editing Rogue wave (section)

=== Pre-1995 research ===

Unusual waves have been studied scientifically for many years (for example, [[John Scott Russell]]'s [[wave of translation]], an 1834 study of a [[soliton]] wave). Still, these were not linked conceptually to sailors' stories of encounters with giant rogue ocean waves, as the latter were believed to be scientifically implausible.

Since the 19th century, oceanographers, meteorologists, engineers, and ship designers have used a statistical [[mathematical model|model]] known as the [[Gaussian function]] (or Gaussian Sea or standard linear model) to predict wave height, on the assumption that wave heights in any given sea are tightly grouped around a central value equal to the average of the largest third, known as the [[significant wave height]] (SWH).<ref name="SoaresSantos2014">{{cite book
 | author1    = Carlos Guedes Soares
 | author2    = T.A. Santos
 | title      = Maritime Technology and Engineering
 | url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=kg7NBQAAQBAJ
 | year       = 2014
 | publisher  = [[CRC Press]]
 | isbn       = 978-1-315-73159-9}}</ref> In a storm sea with an SWH of {{convert|12|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}, the model suggests hardly ever would a wave higher than {{convert|15|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} occur. It suggests one of {{convert|30|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} could indeed happen, but only once in 10,000 years. This basic assumption was well accepted, though acknowledged to be an approximation. Using a Gaussian form to model waves has been the sole basis of virtually every text on that topic for the past 100 years.<ref name="SoaresSantos2014"/><ref name="MyUser_Chl.erdc.usace.army.mil_April_16_2016c">{{cite web
 |url         = http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/library/publications/chetn/pdf/cetn-i-60.pdf
 |title       = US Army Engineer Waterways Experimental Station: Coastal Engineering Technical Note CETN I-60
 |newspaper   = Chl.erdc.usace.army.mil
 |date        = March 1995
 |access-date  = April 16, 2016
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20130221213453/http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/library/publications/chetn/pdf/cetn-i-60.pdf
 |archive-date = February 21, 2013
}}</ref>{{when|date=September 2020}}{{Why|date=November 2024}}

The first known scientific article on "freak waves" was written by Professor Laurence Draper in 1964. In that paper, he documented the efforts of the [[National Oceanography Centre|National Institute of Oceanography]] in the early 1960s to record wave height, and the highest wave recorded at that time, which was about {{convert|67|ft|m|0|order=flip}}. Draper also described ''freak wave holes''.<ref name="Draper1">{{cite journal |last=Draper |first=Laurence |date=July 1964 |title='Freak' Ocean Waves |url=https://archive.org/details/oceanusv1004wood/page/12/mode/2up |journal=[[Oceanus]] |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=12–15 |via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="Proceedings">{{Cite book
 | url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=D1VWoCgPTJMC
 | title      = Rogue Waves 2004: Proceedings of a Workshop Organized by Ifremer and Held in Brest, France, 20-21-22 October 2004, Within the Brest Sea Tech Week 2004
 | author     = Michel Olagnon, Marc Prevosto
 | year  =  2004
 | pages      = viii| publisher = Editions Quae
 | isbn     = 9782844331502
 }}</ref><ref name="Draper2">{{cite journal
 | last       = Draper
 | first      = Laurence
 | date       = July 1971
 | title      = Severe Wave Conditions at Sea
 | url        = http://www.ifremer.fr/web-com/stw2004/rw/fullpapers/draper.pdf
 | journal    = [[Journal of the Institute of Navigation]]
 | volume     = 24
 | issue      = 3
 | pages      = 274–277
 | doi=10.1017/s0373463300048244| bibcode = 1971JNav...24..273D
 | s2cid = 131050298
 }}</ref>