Representing frequency spectra for shallow water waves

Wind waves recorded in water from 1.4 to 3.8 m deep near the southeastern shore of Lake Erie during 1981 were used to compare two methods for representing wave spectra in shallow water. The results show that the semi-theoretical Wallops model, which requires total energy, peak energy frequency, and depth as parameters, provides fair agreement with observed spectra at the deeper stations but only marginal agreement in very shallow water. The general empirical model, which requires average frequency and energy density at the spectral peak as additional parameters, provides closer agreement with observed wave spectra for all depths.