Scientists revealed in late November the next ocean-based natural disaster called a “monster wave” could be predicted using artificial intelligence.
Researchers used roughly 700 years worth of wave data, collected from more than a billion waves, to predict when the next “monster wave” may strike, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and University of Victoria published in PNAS. These waves cause huge amounts of damage to passenger and cargo ships, as well as potential loss of life when they suddenly appear.
“Monster waves,” also known as “rogue waves,” are unpredictable, colossal walls of water that appear to be two or three times larger than other waves during the same storm, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration described. Examples of these aquatic monsters include a 58 footer that appeared off the coast of Canada in 2020, which was three times taller than all surrounding waves, and one of the biggest ever recorded, according to a 2022 study published in the journal Nature.
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“They are caused by a combination of many factors that, until now, have not been combined into a single risk estimate,” the PNAS study’s lead author, Dion Häfner, said in a statement. (RELATED: Giant Solar Storm To Slam Into Earth, Potentially Causing Disruptions)
The PNAS study used data from historical records and buoys at 158 locations globally to create a metric for predicting huge waves. After the data was fed into the AI, scientists were provided a recipe of factors that combine to create rogue waves. These datasets can now be used by shipping companies and potentially the military to plan better routes when traveling through the ocean.