Rogue waves in crossing seas: The Louis Majesty accident

Abstract

[1] We analyze the sea state conditions during which the accident of the cruise ship Louis Majesty took place. The ship was hit by a large wave that destroyed some windows at deck number five and caused two fatalities. Using the wave model (WAM), driven by the Consortium for Small-Scale Modelling (COSMO-ME) winds, we perform a detailed hindcast of the local wave conditions. The results reveal the presence of two comparable wave systems characterized almost by the same frequency. We discuss such sea state conditions in the framework of a system of two coupled Nonlinear Schrödinger (CNLS) equations, each of which describe the dynamics of a single spectral peak. For some specific parameters, we discuss the breather solutions of the CNLS equations and estimate the maximum wave amplitude. Even though, due to the lack of measurements, it is impossible to establish the nature of the wave that caused the accident, we show that the angle between the two wave systems during the accident was close to the condition for which the maximum amplitude of the breather solution is observed.

Global ship accidents and ocean swell-related sea states

“…The "old" wind sea was transformed into a young swell, which led to a marked decrease in D. The closer wave period and narrower direction angle between the wind sea and the swell produced a resonance effect. Some experimental studies suggest that a swell with the same direction as the wind will play a role in suppressing the growth of a wind sea (Philips and Banner, 1974;DoneJan, 1987). As the swell direction tends to be the same as the wind direction, the development of a wind sea is suppressed.…”

“…A sea state with a narrow wave spectrum was observed during several major ship accidents, including the Voyager accident (Bertotti and Cavaleri, 2008), the Suwa Maru incident (Tamura et al, 2009), the Louis Majesty accident (Cavaleri et al, 2012) and the Onomichi Maru incident Waseda et al, 2014). Studies have assumed that the narrowed wave spectrum is primarily generated by the nonlinear coupling of swell and wind sea (or swell and swell) (Bertotti and Cavaleri, 2008;Tamura et al, 2009;Cavaleri et al, 2012;Waseda et al, 2012).…”

“…Studies have assumed that the narrowed wave spectrum is primarily generated by the nonlinear coupling of swell and wind sea (or swell and swell) (Bertotti and Cavaleri, 2008;Tamura et al, 2009;Cavaleri et al, 2012;Waseda et al, 2012). During such wave couplings, the wave energy from one wave system (wind sea or swell) is enhanced and transferred to the other wave system (usually a swell) (Tamura et al, 2009;Waseda et al, 2014).…”

Distributions of nonlinear wave amplitudes and heights from laboratory generated following and crossing bimodal seas

“…Tamura et al (2009) demonstrated that the wind-sea energy of a studied complex wave field contributed to the exponential growth of the swell system, generating a unimodal "freakish" sea. Cavaleri et al (2012) analysed the sea state conditions at the time of the accident with the Louis Majesty cruiser characterized by the coexistence of two wave systems of comparable energies and peak periods, propagating at 40-60 • . Furthermore, the possible rogue wave conditions at the time of the accident have been successfully, though qualitatively, modelled using a system of two coupled nonlinear Shrödinger equations.…”

Controlling the likelihood of rogue waves in an optically injected semiconductor laser via direct current modulation

“…A major challenge is to predict them and, if possible, to control them, making safer environments and systems. In oceanography, ultrahigh waves, referred to as rogue waves (RWs), have been extensively studied [1][2][3][4], and they have also been observed in many other systems [5][6][7][8]. Rogue waves, as opposed to tsunamis or solitons, can disappear in a short spatial length and not necessarily propagate for large distances.…”