a statistical procedure of analysis applied to wave 

 spectra conforming closely to actual sea waves, 

 This theoretical method has been checked for sea 

 conditions where the maximum height of waves is 



APPROXIMATELY TWENTY (20) FEET. NO CHECKS ARE YET 

 AVAILABLE FOR HIGHER SEA CONDITIONS, ACCORDING TO 

 THE STATISTICAL THEORY, MOST OF THE WAVES IN A STORM 

 WILL BE CONSIDERABLY LOWER IN HEIGHT THAN THE AVERAGE 

 OF THE 10 PER CENT HIGHEST WAVESJ BUT, THEORETICALLY, 

 ONE WAVE IN ONE THOUSAND DURING MAXIMUM STORM WILL 

 HAVE A HEIGHT I.5 TIMES THE HEIGHT OF THE AVERAGE OF 

 THE !0 PER CENT HIGHEST AND ONE WAVE IN TWENTY THOU- 

 SAND MAY BE EVEN HIGHER, |N THIS CONNECTION, IT MAY 



be well to quote comments from the new york univer- 

 sity report as follows: 



""Exceptionally high waves reported as rare 



OCCURRENCES HAVE BEEN ACTUALLY OBSERVED, ThEY 

 ARE OFTEN REPORTED BY SEA "GOING MEN AND THERE 

 HAS BEEN A LOT OF SPECULATION AS TO HOW AND 

 why they FORM. THESE HIGH WAVES FORM BECAUSE 

 THEY ARE A BASIC PROPERTY OF THE RANDOMNESS OF 

 THE WAVES. In HEAVY SEAS, OR FULLY DEVELOPED 



seas, these outsize waves are very unstable, 

 They may be breaking at the crests and produce 



A wall OF PLUNGING WHITE WATER OUT IN THE MIDDLE 

 OF THE OPEN OCEAN. THESE OUTSIZE WAVES THEN ARE 

 DESTROYED BY THEIR VERY HEIGHT. THUS, IN A 

 HEAVY SEA, THEY ARE RARE." 



The sc 



TUT ION 

 OCCUR 

 REPORT 

 HOWEVE 

 THE OU 

 00 NOT 

 THE No 

 TO 90 

 SELF-L 

 CANNOT 

 THE EF 

 STRUCT 



1 ENT I 



AGRE 



AND T 



S AND 



R, TH 



TS I ZE 



KNOW 



RTH A 



FEET. 



IMI Tl 



BE I 



FECTS 



URE F 



STS 

 E TH 

 HERE 



H I S 

 ERE 



OR 



WHA 

 TL AN 



Wh 



NG A 

 GNOR 



OF 

 I XED 



OF THE 

 AT THE 



ARE N 

 TORY 

 I S SOM 

 G IGANT 

 T THIS 

 TIC IT 

 I LE SU 

 ND OF 

 ED AND 

 SUCH R 



TO TH 



Woods 



OUTS I 



UMEROU 



F SUCH 



E L I M ) 



I C WAV 



HE I GH 



IS IN 



CH WAV 



RARE 



CONS I 



POSS I 



E SEA 



Hole Oceanograph i c Insti- 



ZE OR "gigantic" WAVES DO 

 S RECORDS I N MAR I T I ME 



WAVES BEING OBSERVED, 

 TING HEIGHT BEYOND WHICH 

 ES will NOT OCCUR. THEY 

 T IS, BUT BELIEVE THAT IN 



THE GENERAL ORDER OF OO 

 ES ARE ADMITTEDLY UNSTABLE, 

 CCURRENCE, THEIR EXISTENCE 

 DERATION MUST BE GIVEN TO 

 BLE G I GANT I C WAVE ON A 

 BOTTOM, 



-5- 



