Case file · High strangeness
The Draupner wave
On 1 January 1995 a laser sensor on the Draupner gas platform in the North Sea measured a single wave 25.6 m high in seas of about 12 m, the first rogue wave recorded by instruments.
1995 CE · 58.19, 2.47 · status: explained
The account
The measurement proved that waves more than twice the size of their neighbours occur in the open ocean, as sailors had long claimed, and led to new ship and platform design rules.