Wave height

About: Wave height is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5920 publications have been published within this topic receiving 100257 citations.

Hydrodynamics of spur and groove formations on a coral reef

Abstract: [1] Spur and groove (SAG) formations are found on the fore reefs of many coral reefs worldwide. Although these formations are primarily present in wave-dominated environments, their effect on wave-driven hydrodynamics is not well understood. A two-dimensional, depth-averaged, phase-resolving nonlinear Boussinesq model (funwaveC) was used to model hydrodynamics on a simplified SAG system. The modeling results show that the SAG formations together with shoaling waves induce a nearshore Lagrangian circulation pattern of counter-rotating circulation cells. The mechanism driving the modeled flow is an alongshore imbalance between the pressure gradient (PG) and nonlinear wave (NLW) terms in the momentum balance. Variations in model parameters suggest the strongest factors affecting circulation include spur-normal waves, increased wave height, weak alongshore currents, increased spur height, and decreased bottom drag. The modeled circulation is consistent with a simple scaling analysis based on the dynamical balance of NLW, PG, and bottom stress terms. Model results indicate that the SAG formations efficiently drive circulation cells when the alongshore SAG wavelength allows for the effects of diffraction to create alongshore differences in wave height without changing the mean wave angle.

Wave Climate Variability in Southern California

Abstract: The incidence of major wave events is investigated for the Southern California offshore region for the period from 1984 to 1995. The significant influence of the world climate event popularly known as El Nino, which had been shown in an earlier study of the first 83 yr of the century, is seen to be a major influence in the recent decade. Although the overall wave intensity (as measured by the median wave height for all observations during a year) has decreased for the most part in the last 20 yr, the number of large wave events has been very much increased. An averaged sea surface temperature anomaly in the tropics is shown to be well correlated with the increases in large wave events.

Future Projection of Ocean Wave Climate: Analysis of SST Impacts on Wave Climate Changes in the Western North Pacific

Abstract: Changes in ocean surface waves elicit a variety of impacts on coastal environments. To assess the future changes in the ocean surface wave climate, several future projections of global wave climate have been simulated in previous studies. However, previously there has been little discussion about the causes behind changes in the future wave climate and the differences between projections. The objective of this study is to estimate the future changes in mean wave climate and the sensitivity of the wave climate to sea surface temperature (SST) conditions in an effort to understand the mechanism behind the wave climate changes by specifically looking at spatial SST variation. A series of wave climate projections forced by surface winds from the MRI-AGCM3.2 were conducted based on SST ensemble experiments. The results yield future changes in annual mean wave height that are within about ±0.3 m. The future changes in summertime wave height in the western North Pacific (WNP), which are influenced by tro...

Wave height distribution and wave grouping in surf zone

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to propose a model for prediction of the spatial distributions of representative wave heights and the frequency distributions of wave heights of irregular waves in shallow-water including the surf zone. In order to examine the validity of the model, some experiments of irregular wave transformation have been made. In addition, an attempt has been made to clarify the spatial distribution of wave grouping experimentally. Especially the present paper focuses finding the effects of the bottom slope and the deep-water wave steepness on the wave height distribution and wave grouping.