Surface Wave Statistics and Spectra During High Sea State Conditions in the North Atlantic.

Surface wave data collected using an airborne laser profilometer during high sea state conditions are analyzed to produce statistical cumulants up to the fifth order and power spectra. Theoretically, the third cumulant, skewness, is directly proportional to the wind-wave significant slope. This rela...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: McClain,C R, Chen,D T, Hart,W D
Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB WASHINGTON DC
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1981
Subjects:
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography
Lasers and Masers
Fluid Mechanics
*OCEAN WAVES
SURFACE WAVES
AIRBORNE
WIND
POWER SPECTRA
LASERS
PROFILOMETERS
OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA
MATHEMATICAL PREDICTION
RADIO ALTIMETERS
SLOPE
DATA ACQUISITION
SKEWNESS
SEA STATES
NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
HEIGHT FINDING
Laser profilometers
Wind waves
Wave spectra
High sea states
Swells(Marine)
PE61153N
PE62759N
WU0928
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA109832
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA109832
Description
Summary:Surface wave data collected using an airborne laser profilometer during high sea state conditions are analyzed to produce statistical cumulants up to the fifth order and power spectra. Theoretically, the third cumulant, skewness, is directly proportional to the wind-wave significant slope. This relationship is supported by wind-wave tank data, but little field data of this kind is available in the literature. Also, it has been suggested that if skewness can be derived from radar altimeter data, the significant slope would be computed and together with another altimeter product, the rms wave height, the wave spectra can be estimated using the Wallops Spectral Model (WSM). The results of this study indicate that the skewness relationship is valid for wind-wave dominated seas but as the swell contribution to rms wave height increases, the combined wave field skewness monotonically decreases below the predicted value. The WSM yields excellent reproductions of the wind-wave spectra even in multiple-peaked seas providing that the model inputs are properly determined for the wind-wave subfield. Finally the altimeter-WSM scheme should work reasonably well when the seas are wind-wave dominated provided that the altimeter can accurately measure skewness. More research on intermediate and swell dominated conditions is recommended. (Author)

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