Where does this come from, and can I check it?

The World Meteorological Organization verified the reading from February 2013. The figure is taken from World Meteorological Organization, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a records & extremes fact?

Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

A buoy recorded a wave 19 metres high

The World Meteorological Organization verified the reading from February 2013 The organisation accepted a significant wave height of 19 metres from a buoy moored between Iceland and the Faroe Islands on 4 February 2013. Significant wave height is the average of the highest third of waves, so individual swells in that storm ran considerably higher. The measurement came from a moored wave recorder rather than a ship's estimate. It sits in Mondo's records & extremes collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

World Meteorological Organization

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

World Geography trivia Science trivia

More facts like this

Seabed depth is mapped by timing sound pulsesMultibeam sonar measures the echo of hundreds of beams at once Moving wave sources shift frequency relative to observersThe Doppler effect compresses approaching sound waves and stretches departing ones A sonic boom trails behind a supersonic aircraftSound waves pile into a cone that sweeps the ground as a sudden bang Tsunamis race across deep open oceanIn deep water the wave can match an airliner, but it rises only at the shore Hurricane Patricia set a record for sustained windIts 345 kilometre per hour winds were measured in October 2015 Weather records are verified by a formal expert committeeThe WMO archive checks instruments, siting and calibration before accepting a figure

Tags: waves, oceans, weather

A buoy recorded a wave 19 metres high: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: The World Meteorological Organization verified the reading from February 2013. The figure is taken from World Meteorological Organization, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a records & extremes fact?: Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.