On New Year's Day 1995, a monstrous 80-foot wave in the North Sea slammed into the Draupner oil platform. The wall of water crumpled steel railings and flung heavy equipment across the deck—but its ...

A size comparison of the "Draupner Wave" to 3 school buses stacked horizontally on top of one another. On New Year’s Day 1995, a monstrous 80-foot wave in the North Sea slammed into the Draupner oil ...

Rogue waves have captivated the attention of both seafarers and scientists for decades. These are giant, isolated waves that appear suddenly in the open ocean. These puzzling giants are brief, ...

Once thought to be sailors’ myths, rogue waves gained credibility after a towering 80-foot wall of water struck the Draupner oil platform in 1995. New research shows that these extreme waves don’t ...

We finally know the forces behind an 80-foot-tall wall of water that rocked the North Sea in 1995. By Laura Baisas Published Aug 5, 2025 12:30 PM EDT Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 ...

By analyzing 18 years of high-frequency laser measurements from the Ekofisk oil platform in the central North Sea, we reached the surprising conclusion that rogue waves aren't just freak occurrences.

Rogue waves are a naturally-occurring phenomenon, usually materializing far out to sea, and categorized as waves measuring twice the size of those surrounding them. They’re difficult to predict, ...

Shorebreak waves, generally speaking, aren’t good for surfing. There’s nowhere to go when a wave breaks right on the sand, they’re typically more closed-out like a wall of water, and they crumble ...