T here is a lot of worry about the weather today. Perhaps caused by global warming or just “climate change”, there seems to be much more violent weather about. At sea, and on the coast, there seems to be more damage being done. In those areas where there are hurricanes, typhoons and other sorts of revolving storms, they seem to be more numerous and do a lot more damage. Perhaps it is a phase we are going through? Scientists are divided about whether this is really the case. It seems true that there are more giant waves about, and naval architects are becoming concerned whether designing ships or structures for that “100 year wave” is enough, as they chances are that these monsters will appear more often. But some suggest that the frequency of these giant waves is more apparent, as we can record them from space, through satellites, and not have to depend on some poor sailor meeting one for the report. The incidence of huge storms has, it has alleged, been increasing. But meteorologists who track hurricanes and typhoons suggest that their incidence does not really seem to be changing, although when they hit land, the chances of huge damage is far greater, because of man's insistence of building on the coasts. And it is worth pointing out that the great river deltas of the world, which very often seem to see disastrous flooding, tend to be subsiding because of the weight of all that silt. There are, however, pronounced cycles in the weather, which is just one feature of the complex interaction between oceans and atmosphere, the ocean currents, and the winds and the weather. Major changes, like the El Nino and La Nina events in the South Pacific, where whole weather patterns are reversed, tend to have dramatic knock-on effects in other oceans and hemispheres, with droughts, storms and other unexpected phenomena. Other things affect our perception of the weather at sea. We are better informed about bad weather, so much of what might have just passed by is now noted and logged. There is a greater intensity of marine operations, and ships which may have in an earlier age remained tied up in port is the weather was bad, go out and weather the storm! There is also a tendency to run ships faster in bad weather, risking damage. Think of all those containers which end up in the sea after falling off containerships, and ships dragging their anchors in heavy weather roadsteads. It is the way we are operating ships today that might also make a difference to our perception of more bad weather. But there is also a general belief that climate change, or warming of the tropical regions is having an effect upon weather, that may show up in increased local storminess. It is a challenge to everyone in the shipping industry, from those who design ships, to those who go to sea in them.