Hoffman and Karst have recently reported, in the title paper, an excellent review of the Rayleigh distribution and some of its applications. They mention that for many ocean zones there is a lack of measured wave data. The primary purpose of this note is to supplement their conclusions with some additional measured ocean wave data. These data, from the west coast of India near Mangalore, where a new major port has recently been commissioned, were obtained over a period of 18 months during 1968–1969, using a frequency-modulated subsurface pressure-type recorder. The analysis of this data has been reported in an earlier paper [1]. 3 More recently, during 1974, some additional data were obtained using an accelerometer-type Wave Rider buoy. The data obtained from the subsurface recorder need to be modified to account for the pressure response and instrument factors, and considerable uncertainties are involved in this computation. On the other hand, the Wave Rider data need no such modifications and can be considered to be more representative of the sea state at the locality. As such, the surface recorder data (Wave Rider data) have been utilized mainly in the preparation of this note, and the subsurface recorder data are furnished for the purpose of comparison. The west coast of India is under the influence of the southwest monsoon during the months of June to September, when the prevailing strong winds cause heavy seas. During the nonmonsoon period, the Arabian Sea is practically calm, with long low swells. Hence the data used herein cover a wide range of conditions from the 'sea' to the 'swell.'
Observational Evidence of Summer Shamal Swells along the West Coast of India*
