About the episode
Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence model that allows them to predict unusually large waves at sea.
Monster waves, or Rogue wavesThey are called. This model would allow signals to be sent to people on ships or oil platforms before the waves appear.
The algorithm was trained using 14 million measurements of water height taken over a 30-minute period by buoys at sea. They then tested it using 40,000 new measurements taken at the same locations.
They were able to predict the huge waves with 75% accuracy one minute before they arrived and with 73% accuracy five minutes before they arrived.
The model also successfully predicted massive waves in locations that were not present in the dataset the algorithm was trained on, 75 percent of the time, one minute in advance.
The accuracy of the model could be improved, the researchers say, if water depth, wind speed and location were also taken into account. It could also potentially be possible to warn early of the development of such a monster wave and to be able to say something about its height.
Read more about the research here: Engineering: The tool predicts rogue waves up to 5 minutes in advance.
