Using satallite images, the European Space Agency has shown that waves over 25 meters high are much more common than previously thought. Over a three weeks of study across the globe over ten waves were found to surge over this height.

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html

I've been out in a force 8 gale off the cost of Scotland. I was in a 60 foot ketch and it was swamped. A wave a tenth of that size would have shattered the ship into tiny wee little sinking chunks. Fear the sea.

These waves eat super-tankers for breakfast. Scary.

Just curious........heard of this thing called a tsunami..........where does it stand in front of these 25 mt monsters ??

Tsunami is one of those, sort of. A tsunami is a humongous wave too.

does anyone know why they are there, or why and how they were formed

Tsunami is an abnormal weather pattern caused by either geological conditions or any violent interaction with the sea. Meteorites striking the sea would cause an abnormal wave to occur, as would tectonic activity. As a wave in the sea pretty much behaves as any other form of wave (it dosn't dissipate over distance until it hits something else) a tsunami can interact in unexpected ways. Some earthquakes create tsunamis that are simply wave trains that can do as little as disrupt the tidal patterns. However, disrupting the tidal patterns can create giant waves as a result.

 

Mind you, the type of tsunami often focused on are the giant waves. Also, for some reason in all the movies I've seen they still refer to a wave from a meteor strike as a tidal wave. Idiots.

does anyone know why they are there, or why and how they were formed

 

Apparently there's not a lot of ideas at the moment, they seem to rise out of relatively calm waters for no apparent reason.

The "ship eating waves" are called "rogue waves" or "freak waves". Here is a NOAA paper about them:

 

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/20040008.pdf

 

Check out the graphs.

 

Tsunamis - falsely called, "tidal waves" originate from undersea earth quakes or landslides. The latter are not even noticable when they are at sea - they rise up when they approach shallow water. The bottom of the wave encounters the sea floor and the wave builds up and collapses on itself.

 

Here is a page with Tsunami FAQ's and answers from NOAA's Tsunami warning center:

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/itic/library/about_tsu/faqs.html

 

Then of course - there are the plain old storm generated heavy seas, which are quite impressive in their own right.

 

 

http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/