A hundred-year wave is a
statistically projected
water wave
In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result of the wind blowing over the water's surface. The contact distance in the direction of the wind is ...
, the height of which, on average, is met or exceeded once in a hundred years for a given location. The likelihood of this
wave height
In fluid dynamics, the wave height of a surface wave is the difference between the elevations of a crest and a neighboring trough. ''Wave height'' is a term used by mariners, as well as in coastal, ocean and naval engineering.
At sea, the ...
being attained at least once in the hundred-year period is 63%.
As a projection of the most extreme wave which can be expected to occur in a given body of water, the hundred-year wave is a factor commonly taken into consideration by designers of
oil platform
An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms w ...
s and other offshore structures.
[
Ch. 4.] Periods of time other than a hundred years may also be taken into account, resulting in, for instance, a fifty-year wave.
Various methods are employed to predict the possible steepness
and period
of these waves, in addition to their height.
See also
*
Index of wave articles
This is a list of wave topics.
0–9
* 21 cm line
A
* Abbe prism
*Absorption spectroscopy
* Absorption spectrum
* Absorption wavemeter
*Acoustic wave
* Acoustic wave equation
*Acoustics
* Acousto-optic effect
*Acousto-optic modulator
* A ...
*
Significant wave height
In physical oceanography, the significant wave height (SWH, HTSGW or ''H''s)
is defined traditionally as the mean ''wave height'' (trough (physics), trough to crest (physics), crest) of the highest third of the ocean surface wave, waves (''H''1/ ...
*
Shallow water equations
*
Rogue wave A rogue wave is an abnormally large ocean wave.
Rogue wave may also refer to:
* Optical rogue waves, are rare pulses of light analogous to rogue or freak ocean waves.
* Rogue Wave Software, a software company
* Rogue Wave (band), an American in ...
References
{{reflist
Physical oceanography
Water waves