Word: occurate
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Many of the models being recalled have been on the road for several years. "We found that this is a condition that takes time to develop. It tends to occur in older models out of warranty," said Jamie Hresko, GM Vice President of Quality, who said the company began looking at the problem...
...British oceanographic vessel recorded a 95-ft.-high (29 m) wave off the coast of Scotland. In 2004, scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA), as part of the MaxWave project, used satellite data to show that freak waves higher than 10 stories were rare but did occur on the oceans...
Scientists still don't know exactly how rogue waves occur, nor do they know how to predict them. Open ocean waves, possibly including rogue waves, form when wind produces distortion over the surface of the sea - the stronger the wind, the higher the wave, which is why hurricanes can create such destructive walls of water. Tsunamis, on the other hand, like the one produced by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in coastal Chile on Feb. 27, don't create rogue waves; tsunamis barely make a ripple on the open ocean and gather in size only when they reach shallow land near...
Rogue waves generally occur out in the open ocean. They may be the result of a number of factors coming together - strong winds and fast currents coinciding, for instance - or of a focusing effect, in which several smaller waves join together to form one big wave. There may even be a nonlinear effect at work, in which just a small change in wind speed multiplies to form a big wave. And certain areas of the ocean, like the strong waters off Africa's coast, may be more vulnerable to rogue waves than others...
...rogue waves might be a lot more common than scientists had believed and could explain why so many large ships - as many as two a week - sink even in the absence of bad weather. One day we might even be able to predict when these earthquakes of the sea occur - sparing future cruisegoers the trauma suffered by those on the Louis Majesty...