A Study on the Characteristics of Large Amplitude Ocean Waves

In this paper time series wave data which contain a freak wave is investigated. Various wave char- acteristics are compared between wave data with a freak wave and without. Among 24 hour wave data mea- sured in the Yura Sea, two adjacent 30 min wave data with and without a freak wave are examined intensively. It is seen that the highest waves do not have the longest wave period. The wave period of the longest period waves is a little longer than the average wave period and much shorter than the significant wave period. Although the sea state is quite high, the Rayleigh distribution fits well to the probability of wave height. The characteristics of the wave spectra do not change much, but the nonlinearity increases for the wave data with a freak wave. The significant wave height without a freak wave is larger than that with a freak wave. Hence, the higher significant wave height does not always increase the probability of the occurrence of the freak waves.