Extreme waves induced by cyclone Nargis at Myanmar coast: numerical modeling versus satellite observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thit Oo Kyaw ◽  
Miguel Esteban ◽  
Martin Mäll ◽  
Tomoya Shibayama

AbstractThe deltaic coast of Myanmar was severely hit by tropical cyclone Nargis in May 2008. In the present study, a top-down numerical simulation approach using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) models was conducted to study the meteorological and offshore wave characteristics of cyclone Nargis near the coast of Myanmar. The WRF simulation results agree well with the observed data from the India Meteorological Department. SWAN simulation results were compared with the WaveWatch 3 model by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and validated against available measurement data from satellites. The model results show relatively good agreement, and hindcast with satellites data (significant wave height only) shows a correlation coefficient value of 0.89. The SWAN and satellite comparisons also show better fit for high wave conditions. The resulted maximum significant wave height of 7.3 m by SWAN is considerably higher in energy than the seasonal waves normally prevalent at Myanmar’s deltaic coast. The possibility of high energy waves due to cyclones should be considered during the design and operation of coastal and offshore projects in the area, particularly given the risks that climate change can intensify cyclones in the future. Since Myanmar lacks a dense network of in-situ observational stations, the methodology used in the current study presents the potential application of various numerical techniques and satellite data to estimate extreme wave conditions near the Myanmar coast.

1968 ◽  
Vol 5 (04) ◽  
pp. 347-373
Author(s):  
Robert B. Harris

On 13 February 1979, the entire west span of the Hood Canal Floating Bridge sank under the action of a very severe storm. Although the significant wave height was estimated as high as 4.7 feet, wind and wave conditions during the storm were well within the design criteria of the bridge.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (24) ◽  
pp. eaaz7295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Meucci ◽  
Ian R. Young ◽  
Mark Hemer ◽  
Ebru Kirezci ◽  
Roshanka Ranasinghe

We describe an innovative approach to estimate global changes in extreme wave conditions by 2100, as a result of projected climate change. We generate a synthetic dataset from an ensemble of wave models forced by independent climate simulation winds, enhancing statistical confidence associated with projected changes in extreme wave conditions. Under two IPCC representative greenhouse gas emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), we find that the magnitude of a 1 in 100-year significant wave height (Hs) event increases by 5 to 15% over the Southern Ocean by the end of the 21st century, compared to the 1979–2005 period. The North Atlantic shows a decrease at low to mid latitudes (≈5 to 15%) and an increase at high latitudes (≈10%). The extreme significant wave height in the North Pacific increases at high latitudes by 5 to 10%. The ensemble approach used here allows statistical confidence in projected changes of extremes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Kozyrakis ◽  
Katerina Spanoudaki ◽  
Emmanouil Varouchakis

<p>The continuous search for affordable and renewable energy resources is a topic of interest for decades. Many large-scale measuring campaigns have been conducted and various different tools have been developed over the years (both numerical and statistical in nature), in order to locate regions with high wind, wave and solar energy potential. Depending on the energy resource, not all regions are performing equally, as expected. To pinpoint regions with high energy gain requires state-of-the-art tools and unremitting research efforts.</p><p>The objective of the current research effort is the spatio-temporal wave data analysis, originated from satellite data, and sensor buoy data scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Sea, with the use of geostatistical and dynamic downscaling methods, for estimating the wave energy potential for the Hellenic region. The main areas of interest are the Aegean and Ionian islands, with unsustainable energy production.</p><p>WRF model is used to  dynamically downscale coarse global climate model output to provide the regional wind forcing for a 40-year hindcast period on a 3 x 3 km grid over the Aegean and Ionian Seas. The calculated wind forcing is used as a driver for the WAVEWATCH-III wave model to calculate the significant wave height and period in the region and subsequently achieve a high-resolution estimation of the wave energy potential spatial distribution and temporal evolution. Model results have been validated with mooring time series of wave parameters in the Aegean Sea and satellite-based along track Significant Wave Height data available through CMEMS Wave Thematic Assembly Center (CMEMS WAVE TAC). To strengthen the results outcome, a spatio-temporal geostatistical methodology has been introduced to validate the computational results and provide a fast and robust estimation of the wave and energy fields. The results between the two different approaches are compared in order to establish either spatial or temporal correlation patterns.</p><p><strong> </strong><strong>Acknowledgements</strong></p><p>This project has received funding from the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT), under grant agreement No [1237].</p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (33) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Guirec Prevot ◽  
Olivier Boucher ◽  
Maryline Luck ◽  
Michel Benoit

Rubble-mound breakwaters are often pre-designed with empirical formulae allowing the estimation of armour stone size or weight, taking into account the wave conditions (mainly a characteristic wave height and a characteristic period), the type and density of stone or block used, the slope of the mound, the acceptable level of damage, etc. In deep water conditions, the existing formulas are rather well established (e.g. Hudson and Van der Meer formulas among others). They use as input data wave parameters that are well defined (e.g. the significant wave height H1/3 or sometimes the height H1/10) and easily accessible, from in situ measurements or from numerical wave models. In shallow water however, and in particular in breaking wave conditions (where most of the small breakwaters are built), a number of physical processes (refraction, shoaling and breaking) significantly modify the incoming waves. They also lead to changes in the wave height distribution (which can no longer be regarded as being of Rayleightype) and in the shape of the wave spectrum. This, combined with the fact that most of the models used nowadays for nearshore wave propagation are spectral wave models (e.g. SWAN, TOMAWAC, etc.) and thus provide spectral parameters as output (typically the spectral significant wave height Hm0 and the peak period Tp or the mean energetic period Tm-1,0) has raised the question of which characteristic wave parameter should be used in stability formulas for rubble-mound breakwaters in shallow water. This has led to the consideration of more representative wave parameters such as H2% or Tm-1,0 which are sometimes less accessible from existing wave database or numerical modelling studies. The objective of the present study is to review and compare several available methods to calculate armour stone weight in shallow waters, and to provide some insight into the applicability and limitations of these methods based on a series of wave flume experiments.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Soomere ◽  
A. Behrens ◽  
L. Tuomi ◽  
J. W. Nielsen

Abstract. Wave conditions in the northern Baltic Proper during windstorm Erwin/Gudrun (January 2005) are analysed based on in situ measurements in three locations and output of operational wave models from the German Weather Forecast Service, the Danish Meteorological Institute and the Finnish Institute of Marine Research. The measured significant wave height reached 7.2 m in the northern Baltic Proper and 4.5 m in the Gulf of Finland. The roughest wave conditions, estimated from the comparison of the forecast and measured data, occurred remote from the sensors, off the coasts of Saaremaa and Latvia where the significant wave height was about 9.5 m. Peak periods exceeded 12 s in a large part of the northern Baltic Proper and in the central part of the Gulf of Finland.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey D. Ouellette ◽  
William T. Bounds ◽  
David J. Dowgiallo ◽  
Jakov V. Toporkov ◽  
Paul A. Hwang

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
He Wang ◽  
Jingsong Yang ◽  
Jianhua Zhu ◽  
Lin Ren ◽  
Yahao Liu ◽  
...  

Sea state estimation from wide-swath and frequent-revisit scatterometers, which are providing ocean winds in the routine, is an attractive challenge. In this study, state-of-the-art deep learning technology is successfully adopted to develop an algorithm for deriving significant wave height from Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) aboard MetOp-A. By collocating three years (2016–2018) of ASCAT measurements and WaveWatch III sea state hindcasts at a global scale, huge amount data points (>8 million) were employed to train the multi-hidden-layer deep learning model, which has been established to map the inputs of thirteen sea state related ASCAT observables into the wave heights. The ASCAT significant wave height estimates were validated against hindcast dataset independent on training, showing good consistency in terms of root mean square error of 0.5 m under moderate sea condition (1.0–5.0 m). Additionally, reasonable agreement is also found between ASCAT derived wave heights and buoy observations from National Data Buoy Center for the proposed algorithm. Results are further discussed with respect to sea state maturity, radar incidence angle along with the limitations of the model. Our work demonstrates the capability of scatterometers for monitoring sea state, thus would advance the use of scatterometers, which were originally designed for winds, in studies of ocean waves.


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