1339-1342Freak <span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:
" times="" new="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;background:white;mso-ansi-language:="" en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi;font-style:normal"="">waves are relatively large
and spontaneous ocean surface gravity waves whose heights are larger than the
expected maximum wave height for a given sea state. Wave data collected off Ratnagiri,
along the west coast of India
during <span style="font-size:11.0pt;
mso-fareast-font-family:" times="" new="" roman";background:white;mso-ansi-language:="" en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi"="">1 January to 31 December
2011 using
directional wave rider buoy at 13 m water depth is used to study the freak
waves. Abnormality
Index (AI), the ratio between maximum wave height and significant wave height,
is used to identify and study the variation of the freak wave events off
Ratnagiri. From the half hourly wave data
covering one year period, 89 freak wave events are observed. The statistics built on these selected events suggests
that maximum freak events (29 events) are during the rough SW monsoon and 20
events during the calm pre-monsoon season. Highest freak wave (wave height=6.9
m) is observed in July 2011. The Abnormality Index varied from 2 to 2.5
during the study period. Daily variations in number of freak wave events are associated
with the interaction between sea-breeze generated random wind sea and swells
propagating towards the study area.</span