https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kzvmvn/climate-change-is-making-waves-stronger

As climate change has gradually heated oceans around the globe, it’s also been making ocean waves stronger and more deadly, according to a new study published in Nature Monday.

Upper-ocean waves are driven by local wind patterns, which are driven by temperature differences between different layers of the air. So as we pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and heat up the air, we’re also strengthening certain wind patterns and weakening others. The net effect on our oceans is stronger winds making stronger waves.