EXTREME WAVES IN THE MARGINAL RUSSIAN SEAS: UNCERTAINTY OF ESTIMATION AND CLIMATE VARIABILITY

• Published in: GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY
• Main Authors: Viktoria Grigorieva, Sergey Gulev, Peter Koltermann
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Lomonosov Moscow State University 2011
• Subjects: ocean wind waves; extreme events; probability distributions; envir; geo; Barents Sea; Okhotsk
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2011-4-2-22-29; https://doaj.org/article/e4ad76941c64420caa74c661ca12fe4b

An analysis of extreme characteristics of surface wind waves in the three marginal Russian seas (Barents, Black and the Sea of Okhotsk) was performed using visual wave observations. Estimates of extreme seas, swell and significant wave heights were computed using the initial value distribution method and the peak over threshold method. Due to the use of large samples compiled for the entire seas the differences between the two methods are considerably smaller than those that would be expected for grid-cell estimates. This implies a relatively high reliability of the results. In the Barents Sea both methods demonstrate growing tendencies for the extreme wind waves, while mean values do not exhibit any significant trends. This hints at a considerable modification of the statistical distribution of wind wave heights rather than on general growth of wind seas. Some further perspectives of the analysis of regional wind wave extremes are discussed.