Dates from 2013 and according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) the imposing wall of water reached the impressive height of 19 meters (taller than a six-story building, and even taller than four double-decker buses, stacked on top of each other ).
The wave was recorded by an automated buoy in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the United Kingdom in February 2013 , with scientists finally confirming its size. Never before has a wave of such caliber been measured. “ It is the highest significant wave height measured by a buoy, ” according to the WMO.
This phenomenon was due to a very strong cold front, which produced winds of up to 43.8 knots (81.1 km / h) in the area. These meteorological conditions caused the 2013 wave to exceed the previous record of December 2007, measured at 18,275 meters, also occurred in the North Atlantic.
The truth is that these monstrous waves are quite frequent in the North Atlantic due to the patterns of wind circulation and atmospheric pressure in the winter of the northern hemisphere, which can produce intense tropical storms sometimes described as “meteorological bombs”.
These pumps tend to go into the upper reaches of the North Atlantic, extending from the east of the Canadian coast to the waters south of Iceland, and skirting the west coast of the United Kingdom.
Since this part of the Atlantic is home to several commercial shipping lanes, buoy measurements remain crucial for tracking wave activity.
Although there are measurements taken from ships, they do not provide the same accuracy and precision as buoy-based data. Thus, as for the waves recognized by the WMO, the records can be seen in the World Climate Archive and World Climate of the WMO which details all kinds of meteorological outliers in temperatures, rain, hail or lightning. It’s the Guinness World Records of the waves.
The 19 meter wave was recorded here.
