Wave Height Distribution Observed by Ships in the North Atlantic

• Published in: Ships and Offshore Structures
• Main Authors: Olsen, Anders Smærup, Schrøter, Carsten, Jensen, Jørgen Juncher
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: wave height observations; Weather routing; encountered wave height distribution; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/cd542f53-03b2-48b5-86ce-533e55f073e9; https://doi.org/10.1533/saos.2005.0009

The analysis of almost 25000 observation of the wave height from ships in the North Atlantic shows that the encountered wave height distribution is significantly lower than the distribution provided by the classification societies for structural assessment. The joint probability distribution for the significant wave height, the relative speed and the ship heading relative to the wave direction is given. This distribution shows that for higher waves the crews avoid sailing in following sea and as expected the speed is decreased in higher waves. There is, however, still a relatively high probability that the ship will maintain the service speed even in relatively severe sea. The distribution derived could be used to incorporate the effect of weather routing in a long term analysis of the wave loads on a ship.