Highest significant wave as measured by a buoy

In December 2016, the World Meteorological Organization's Commission for Climatology’s Extremes Evaluation Committee, formed of scientists from the UK, Canada, the USA and Spain, announced the ratification of a 19-m-tall (62.3-ft) wave recorded by an automated buoy at 06:00 UTC on 4 February 2013 in the North Atlantic ocean between Iceland and the UK, at approximately 59°N, 11°W. The previous record of 18.275 m (59.96 ft) was measured on 8 December 2007, also in the North Atlantic.

"Significant wave height" is defined as the distance from the crest of one wave to the trough of the next, taking the average of the highest one-third of waves recorded by an instrument – in this case, a Datawell heave sensor and a Triaxys spectral wave sensor mounted on the buoy. The height of individual waves (with reports of waves up to 29 metres) cannot be measured with sufficient accuracy and verification to list them as a record, since the recording devices are also on a moving surface that is impacted by the size of wave.