The biggest wave on record occurred in Lituya Bay on the southern coast of Alaska in 1958. An earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale hit the area and shook loose an estimated 40 million cubic yards of dirt and glacier from a mountainside at the head of the bay. When the debris hit the water, a massive 530 meters wave was created and washed over the headland.
Technically this wave is described as a "Splash Wave" The photo above shows the headland beside the Lituya Glacier that was swept clean of soil and trees to a height of 530 meters by the giant splash wave. The icebergs seen in the water of Lituya Bay, foreground, were knocked off the glacier by the landslide falling into the bay from a slope to the right of the photograph.
Rogue waves — giant walls of water that dwarf run-of-the-mill storm swells are distinct from the 33-foot-high, earthquake-generated tsunami waves we came to know in 2004 that hit Indonesia and some regions in Asia through Africa. For ages, mariners have told of much bigger midocean waves, rising more than 200 feet to hammer the ships caught in their sights.
Rogue waves, also known as freak waves, have been the subject of more studies in recent years, due to the availability of ocean-monitoring satellites. The European Space Agency says its MaxWave satellite radar project detected more than 10 rogue waves measuring higher than 82 feet (25 meters) over a three-week period in 2001 — perhaps including the 100-foot whoppers that smashed the windows of the cruise ships Caledonia and Bremen.
In the book Oceanography and Seamanship, William G. Van Dorn provided an example of what the wave heights would be if a steady 33 mph (30 knot) wind blew for 24 hours over a fetch of 340 miles.
10% of all waves will be less than 3.6 ft (1 m).
The most frequent wave height will be 8½ ft (2½ m).
The average wave height will be 11 ft (3 m).
The significant wave height will be 17 ft (5 m).
10% of all waves will be higher than 18 ft (5 m).
The average wave height of the highest 10% of all waves will be 22 ft (7 m).
A 5% chance of encountering a single wave higher than 35 ft (11 m) among every 200 waves that pass in about 30 minutes.
A 5% chance of encountering a single wave higher than 40 ft (12 m) among every 2,600 waves that pass in about five hours.
