A hundred-year wave is a
statistically projected
water wave
In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction of t ...
, 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 te ...
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 platforms 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
*Acous ...
*
Significant wave height
In physical oceanography, the significant wave height (SWH, HTSGW or ''H''s)
is defined traditionally as the mean ''wave height'' ( trough to crest) of the highest third of the waves (''H''1/3). Nowadays it is usually defined as four times the ...
*
Shallow water equations
The shallow-water equations (SWE) are a set of hyperbolic partial differential equations (or parabolic if viscous shear is considered) that describe the flow below a pressure surface in a fluid (sometimes, but not necessarily, a free surface). ...
*
Rogue wave
Rogue waves (also known as freak waves, monster waves, episodic waves, killer waves, extreme waves, and abnormal waves) are unusually large, unpredictable, and suddenly appearing surface waves that can be extremely dangerous to ships, even to lar ...
References
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Physical oceanography
Water waves