Wave height

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

Tsunamis generated by subaquatic volcanic explosions : Unique data from 1996 eruption in Karymskoye Lake, Kamchatka, Russia

Abstract: —The 1996 subaquatic explosive eruption near the northern shore of Karymskoye Lake in Kamchatka, Russia, generated multiple tsunamis. We document the explosive process that produced the tsunamis, and describe the tsunami effects and runup around the 4-km diameter lake. These data enable the determination of an attenuation relation of runup (wave) height for these “explosive” tsunamis, which is compared with theoretical models of wave height distributions. For the proximal zone, involving radial distances (r) up to 1.3 km from the source, the runup height (R) shows rapid attenuation (from > 30 m to 8 m) with distance as log R = −1.98 log[r] + 2.6. For the distal zone, r > 1.3 km, involving mainly wave travel southeastwards along the body of the lake away from the explosion source, R decays more slowly (from 8 m to 3 m) as log R = −0.56 log[r] + 1.9. Rapid decay in the proximal zone suggests that near the source of the explosion, the tsunami propagated radially as a collapsing wave (bore) with discontinuous change in height. The break-in-slope of the runup plot at 1.3 km suggests that beyond this distance the tsunami propagated approximately as a decaying one-dimensional wave in a channel of approximately constant width.

Historical changes in the Beaufort-Chukchi-Bering Seas surface winds and waves, 1971-2013.

Abstract: This study characterizes historical changes in surface wind speed and ocean surface waves in the Beaufort–Chukchi–Bering Seas using Environment Canada’s Beaufort Wind and Wave Reanalysis for the period 1970–2013. The results show that both the significant wave height () and mean wave period () have increased significantly over the Bering Sea in July and August and over the Canadian Beaufort Sea westward to the northern Bering Sea in September, and that the 1992–2013 trends in September mean agree well with satellite-based trend estimates for 1993–2010. Most outstandingly, the regional mean has increased at a rate of 3%–4% yr−1 of the corresponding 1970–99 climatology; it has more than tripled since 1970. Also, the regional mean has increased at a rate of 0.3% to 0.8% yr−1. The trends of lengthening wave period and increasing wave height imply a trend of increasing wave energy flux, providing a mechanism to break up sea ice and accelerate ice retreat. The results also show that changes in the local...