Relationship between wave steepness and wave age in the course of wind wave growth

It is traditionally assumed that the relationship between wave steepness and wave age is independent of the wind wave growth state. In fact, the traditional relationship can not describe the whole course of wind wave growth. This paper assumes that the relationship between wave steepness and wave age changes with the variety of dimensionless fetch. Based on the relationship proposed by Hou and Wen (1990), a new relationship in the course of wind wave growth is revealed. Comparisons between the present study and other previous relationships show that this new relationship explains better the observations than the other existing relationships.In the case of small fetch, wave age value increases more quickly than other models while it is in opposition to that in the case of large fetch. The result in present paper can clearly reflect the whole course of wind wave growth, it is an improvement for traditional results.     

A new probability distribution function of wave steepness

Wave steepness is an important characteristic describing the severity of sea state in ocean engineering. In the existing theoretical and experimental studies, wave steepness is often substituted by some related quantities. In this paper, a new probability density function (pdf) of steepness, which is a pdf of the steepness in its original definition, is obtained for narrowband Gaussian processes. The drawback inherent in the previous theoretical pdfs of steepness, that is, the probability density at zero steepness is nonzero, has been eliminated. Laboratory experiments were conducted in a wind-wave flume to measure the wave steepness distribu- tion. Comparisons among laboratory measurements and some theoretical pdfs of steepness show that the new pdf generally fits the data better than the one proposed by Zheng et al. (1999).     

Wave steepness retrieved from scatterometer data in a genetic algorithm

Wave steepness is an important characteristic of a high sea state, and is widely applied on wave propagations at ports, ships, offshore platforms, and CO2 circulation in the ocean. Obtaining wave steepness is a difficult task that depends heavily on theoretical research on wavelength distribution and direct observations. Development of remote-sensing techniques provides new opportunities to study wave steepness. At present, two formulas are proposed to estimate wave steepness from QuikSCAT and ERS-1/2 scatterometer data. We found that wave steepness retrieving is not affected by radar band, and polarization method, and that relationship of wave steepness with radar backscattering cross section is similar to that with wind. Therefore, we adopted and modified a genetic algorithm for relating wave steepness with radar backscattering cross section. Results show that the root-mean-square error of the wave steepness retrieved is 0.005 in two cases from ERS-1/2 scatterometer data and from QuikSCAT scatterometer data.     

The Influence of wave state and sea spray on drag coefficient from low to high wind speeds

Ocean waves alter the roughness of sea surface, and sea spray droplets redistribute the momentum flux at the air-sea interface. Hence, both wave state and sea spray influence sea surface drag coefficient. Based on the new sea spray generation function which depends on sea surface wave, a wave-dependent sea spray stress is obtained. According to the relationship between sea spray stress and the total wind stress on the sea surface, a new formula of drag coefficient at high wind speed is acquired. With the analysis of the new drag coefficient, it is shown that the drag coefficient reduces at high wind speed, indicating that the sea spray droplets can limit the increase of drag coefficient. However, the value of high wind speed corresponding to the initial reduced drag coefficient is not fixed, and it depends on the wave state, which means the influence of wave cannot be ignored. Comparisons between the theoretical and measured sea surface drag coefficients in field and laboratory show that under different wave ages, the theoretical result of drag coefficient could include the measured data, and it means that the new drag coefficient can be used properly from low to high wind speeds under any wave state condition.     

Distribution of the nonlinear random ocean wave period

Because of the intrinsic difficulty in determining distributions for wave periods, previous studies on wave period distribution models have not taken nonlinearity into account and have not performed well in terms of describing and statistically analyzing the probability density distribution of ocean waves. In this study, a statistical model of random waves is developed using Stokes wave theory of water wave dynamics. In addition, a new nonlinear probability distribution function for the wave period is presented with the parameters of spectral density width and nonlinear wave steepness, which is more reasonable as a physical mechanism. The magnitude of wave steepness determines the intensity of the nonlinear effect, while the spectral width only changes the energy distribution. The wave steepness is found to be an important parameter in terms of not only dynamics but also statistics. The value of wave steepness reflects the degree that the wave period distribution skews from the Cauchy distribution, and it also describes the variation in the distribution function, which resembles that of the wave surface elevation distribution and wave height distribution. We found that the distribution curves skew leftward and upward as the wave steepness increases. The wave period observations for the SZFII-1 buoy, made off the coast of Weihai (37°27.6′ N, 122°15.1′ E), China, are used to verify the new distribution. The coefficient of the correlation between the new distribution and the buoy data at different spectral widths (ν=0.3−0.5) is within the range of 0.968 6 to 0.991 7. In addition, the Longuet-Higgins (1975) and Sun (1988) distributions and the new distribution presented in this work are compared. The validations and comparisons indicate that the new nonlinear probability density distribution fits the buoy measurements better than the Longuet-Higgins and Sun distributions do. We believe that adoption of the new wave period distribution would improve traditional statistical wave theory.     

Impacts of wave and current on drag coefficient and wind stress over the tropical and northern Pacific

By taking into consideration the effects of ocean surface wave-induced Stokes drift velocity U,w and current velocityU,c on the drag coefficient,the spatial distributions of drag coefficient and wind stress in 2004 are computed over the tropical andnorthern Pacific using an empirical drag coefficient parameterization formula based on wave steepness and wind speed.The globalocean current field is generated from the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and the wave data are generated from Wave-watch Ⅲ (WW3).The spatial variability of the drag coefficient and wind stress is analyzed.Preliminary results indicate that theocean surface Stokes drift velocity and current velocity exert an important influence on the wind stress.The results also show thatconsideration of the effects of the ocean surface Stokes drift velocity and current velocity on the wind stress can significantly im-prove the modeling of ocean circulation and air-sea interaction processes.     

Directional Spectrum of Wind Waves: Part Ⅰ- Model and Derivation

1　Introduction　Numerousinvestigationsondeepwaterwindwavespectrumhavebeen performed (Phillips ,195 8;Bretschneider,195 9;PiersonandMoscowitz ,196 4;Hasselmannetal.,1973;Donelanetal.,1985 ;Ban ner ,1990 ;Wenetal.,1999) .Ondimensionalground ,Phillips (195 8)suggestedthattheequilibriumfre quencyspectrumofwindwavesfordeepwatershouldbe proportionaltoω- 5,andthecorrespondingwavenumberspectrumshouldbe proportionaltok- 4,whereωistheangularfrequencyandkisthewavenumber.Forfully developedwindwaves…     

The effect of wave breaking on surface wave imaging by Synthetic Aperture Radar

The effect of ocean wave breaking as a non-Bragg mechanism on backscattering cross-section and modulation transfer functions （MTF） of radar was investigated based on Bragg resonance theory and parametric method. The result showed that the additional effect of wave breaking on backscattering cross-section is not more than 20% except for the small incident angle of VV polarized electromagnetic （e.m.） wave but is significant for HH polarized e.m. wave. Breaking waves lead to increase in the modulus of tilt modulation MTF and the larger the wind speed, the faster the increase. For large incident angle, the modulus of tilt modulation MTF with wave breaking decreases quickly with incident angle for HH polarization and approach to that without wave breaking for VV polarization. The hydrodynamic MTF increases 30%-60% when considering wave breaking and the increase is larger for HH polarization than for VV polarization.     

A wave modulation model of ripples over long surface waves

A study is presented on the modulation of ripples induced by a long surface wave (LW) and a new theoretical modulation model is proposed. In this model, the wind surface stress modulation is related to the modulation of ripple spectrum. The model results show that in the case of LW propagating in the wind direction with the wave age parameter of LW increasing, the area with enhanced shear stress shifts from the region near the LW crest on the upwind slope to the LW trough. With a smaller wave age parameter of LW, the ripple modulation has the maximum on the upwind slope in the vicinity of LW crest, while with a larger parameter the enhancement of ripple spectrum does not occur in that region. At low winds the amplitude of ripple modulation transfer function (MTF) is larger in the gravity wave range, while at moderate or high winds it changes little in the range from short gravity waves to capillary waves.     

Analysis of the global swell distributions using ECMWF Re-analyses wind wave data

The existence of three well-defined tongue-shaped zones of swell dominance, termed as ‘swell pools’, in the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, was reported by Chen et al. (2002) using satellite data. In this paper, the ECMWF Re-analyses wind wave data, including wind speed, significant wave height, averaged wave period and direction, are applied to verify the existence of these swell pools. The swell indices calculated from wave height, wave age and correlation coefficient are used to identify swell events. The wave age swell index can be more appropriately related to physical processes compared to the other two swell indices. Based on the ECMWF data the swell pools in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans are confirmed, but the expected swell pool in the Indian Ocean is not pronounced. The seasonal variations of global and hemispherical swell indices are investigated, and the argument that swells in the pools seemed to originate mostly from the winter hemisphere is supported by the seasonal variation of the averaged wave direction. The northward bending of the swell pools in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans in summer is not revealed by the ECMWF data. The swell pool in the Indian Ocean and the summer northward bending of the swell pools in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans need to be further verified by other datasets.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation on nonlinear interaction among wave groups

Wave group is important in ocean wave theory and applications. In the past, nonlinear interaction among wave groups has been studied on the basis of the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation. Using this theoretical approach, we found that the nonlinear interaction among wave groups causes asymmetry in the shape of the wave envelope (steeper in the front of the curve of the envelope). An important consequence of this asymmetry is that the highest wave in a wave group appears one individual wave length ahead of the center of the wave group. Further results show that the degree of envelope asymmetry increases with increasing spectral width and the wave steepness. This theoretical analysis has been supplemented by a systematic experimental study of wind waves. Laboratory and some open sea wave data were analyzed. The results show that the shape of the wind wave envelope of wind waves has the same asymmetry predicted by the theoretical approach. The observed degree of deformation of the envelope also increases with increasing spectral width and the wave steepness as predicted by theory. These conclusions have important ramifications for practical applications of ocean wave theory.     

Directional spectrum of wind waves: Part I—model and derivation

A new model on the directional spectrum of wind waves for deep water is proposed based on the statistics of wind waves. This model contains three parameters: the wave age, the inverse spectral bandwidth and the local spectral-peak angular frequency. The inverse spectral bandwidth is a robust parameter for describing the spectral steepness of wind waves. Using the inverse spectral bandwidth parameter, the proposed model can well describe various observations obtained from the open ocean and laboratory tank.     

Effect of the drag coefficient on a typhoon wave model

The effect of the drag coefficient on a typhoon wave model is investigated. Drag coefficients for Pingtan Island are derived from the progress of nine typhoons using COARE 3.0 software. The wind parameters are obtained using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. The simulation of wind agrees well with observations. Typhoon wave fields are then simulated using the third-generation wave model SWAN. The wave model includes exponential and linear growths of the wind input, which determine the wave-growth mode. A triple triangular mesh is adopted with spatial resolution as fine as 100 m nearshore. The SWAN model performs better when using the new drag coefficient rather than the original coefficient.     

The efifect of wave breaking on surface wave imaging by Synthetic Aperture Radar

The effect of ocean wave breaking as a non-Bragg mechanism on backscattering cross-section and modulation transfer functions (MTF) of radar was investigated based on Bragg resonance theory and parametric method. The result showed that the additional effect of wave breaking on backscattering cross-section is not more than 20% except for the small incident angle of VV polarized electromagnetic (e.m.) wave but is significant for HH polarized e.m. wave. Breaking waves lead to increase in the modulus of tilt modulation MTF and the larger the wind speed, the faster the increase. For large incident angle, the modulus of tilt modulation MTF with wave breaking decreases quickly with incident angle for HH polarization and approach to that without wave breaking for VV polarization. The hydrodynamic MTF increases 30%-60% when considering wave breaking and the increase is larger for HH polarization than for VV polarization.     

Directional Spectrum of Wind Waves: Part Ⅱ- Comparison and Confirmation

1　Introduction1.1　Proposed ModelonDirectionalFrequencySpec trum　ThisisthePartⅡofthetwo papersetondirection alspectraofwindwaves.Anewmodelonthedirec tionalspectrumofwindwavesfordeepwaterispro posedbasedonthestatisticsofwindwavesinthePartⅠ .Substituting (4 5 )ofPartⅠinto (4 0 )andaddingapeak enhancementitemγΓ,weobtainS(ω ,) =0 .0 0 93αaαwD( ,k) ωpω2 ξ- 4g2ω5×exp - 2 ξ+14[bωp +(1-b)ωp]4ω4 γΓ. (1)Here ,αaisthewaveagefactorofspectralcoefficientdefinedbyαa = ω0 .55…     

Analysis on monthly-averaged distribution of sea surface wind and wave over the seas southeast of Asia using ERS-2 scatterometer data

The wind system over the seas southeast of Asia (SSEA) plays an important role in China's climate variation. In this paper, ERS scatterometer winds covering the period from January 2000 to December 2000 and the area of 2-41 °N, 105- 130°E were analyzed with a distance-weighting interpolation method and the monthly mean distribution of the sea surface wind speed were given. The seasonal characteristics of winds in the SSEA were analyzed. Based on WAVEWATCH Ⅲ model, distribution of significant wave height was calculated.     

Observation and numerical experiments for drag coefficient under typhoon wind forcing

This paper presents a study on drag coefficients under typhoon wind forcing based on observations and numerical experiments. The friction velocity and wind speed are measured at a marine observation platform in the South China Sea. Three typhoons: SOULIK(2013), TRAMI(2013) and FITOW(2013) are observed at a buoy station in the northeast sea area of Pingtan Island. A new parameterization is formulated for the wind drag coefficient as a function of wind speed. It is found that the drag coefficient(Cd) increases linearly with the slope of 0.083′10~(-3) for wind speed less than 24 m s~(-1). To investigate the drag coefficient under higher wind conditions, three numerical experiments are implemented for these three typhoons using SWAN wave model. The wind input data are objective reanalysis datasets, which are assimilated with many sources and provided every six hours with the resolution of 0.125?×0.125?. The numerical simulation results show a good agreement with wave observation data under typhoon wind forcing. The results indicate that the drag coefficient levels off with the linear slope of 0.012′10~(-3) for higher wind speeds(less than 34 m s~(-1)) and the new parameterization improvese the simulation accuracy compared with the Wu(1982) default used in SWAN.     

两种海浪模式对一次台风浪过程的模拟分析

以CCMP（Cross—Calibrated,Multi—Platfoml）风场为驱动场,分别驱动目前国际先进的第3代海浪模式ww3（WAVEWATCH—III）、SWAN（Simulating WAves Nearshore）,对2010年9月发生在东中国海的台风“圆规”所致的台风浪进行数值模拟,就台风浪的特征进行分析,并对比分析两个海浪模式的模拟效果。结果表明：1）以CCMP风场分别驱动WW3、SWAN海浪模式,可以较好地模拟发生在东中国海的台风浪,风向与波向保持了大体一致,波高与风速的分布特征保持了很好的一致性;2）综合相关系数、偏差、均方根误差、平均绝对误差来看,两个模式模拟的有效波高（SWH—Significant Wdve Height）都具有较高精度,SWAN模拟的SWH略低于观测值,WW3模拟的SWH与观测值更为接近;3）台风浪可给琉球群岛海域带来5m左右的大浪,台风浪进入东海后,波高、风速都有一定程度的增加,当台风沿西北路径穿越朝鲜半岛时,受到半岛地形的巨大影响,风速和波高都明显降低。     

STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF WAVE GROUPS DESCRIBED BY GROUP-INDUCED LONG WAVES

A new method using group-induced second-order long waves (GSLW) to describe wave groups is presented in this paper on the basis of the GSLW theory by Longuet- Higgins and Steward (1964) . In the method , the parabolic relationship between GSLW and the wave envelope is first deduced , and then the distribution function of GSLW amplitude is derived . Thus, the formulae in terms of the moments of GSLW and short wave spectra for the average time duration and the mean length of runs of wave heights exceeding a certain level can be derived . A new groupiness factor equivalent to half the mean wave number in wave groups is defined by taking into account the widths of spectra of GSLW and short waves . Compared with theoretical results of others , ours are closer to measured wave data .