Basic Wave Theory Review

Graham Warren
Bureau of Meteorology
Australia

Why Forecast Waves?

SOLAS
Shore
Protection
Surf
Oil and gas
exploration

17 June, 2

Wave Characteristics

Some simple definitions

Dispersion relation
Deep water waves
Wave Spectrum

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Definitions
Wind (or sea) waves - generated by the local prevailing
wind
Swell waves - the regular longer period waves that were
generated by the winds of distant weather systems.
There may be several sets of swell waves travelling in
different directions, causing a confused sea state.
Sea state is the combination of wind waves and swell.

Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 4

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Properties of Waves

Wavelength (metres)
Height H (=2x amplitude) (metres)
Period T (seconds)
Phase velocity c
=cT

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Total wave height

Height of the wind waves
Height of Swell waves

= Hw
= Hsw

Total wave height = (Hw2 + Hsw2)1/2

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Dispersion
Dispersion is the variation of wave speed
with wavelength
Define 2 / T ; k 2 /
2

gk tanh(kd )
Dispersion relation is
2
deep water:
gk
shallow water:
2 gk 2 d
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Group Velocity
Phase velocity is the speed at which a particular phase of the wave
propagates
Group velocity
Velocity at which a group of waves travel
Velocity of propagation of wave energy

c g / k
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Deep Water Waves

Applies when depth of water > /4
c2k2=gk
Phase Velocity : c = g/=gT /2
= cT = gT2/2 = 1.56T2 m (T in secs)
c=1.56T (m/sec)

Group velocity: cg= gT /4 = c/2 = 0.78 T m/sec

Thus: Longer waves travel faster

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The Wave Spectrum

Fourier Analysis of wave trains:
n

0 a j sin( j 0t j )
j 1

Variance of the wave record is

obtained by averaging the
squares of the deviations of
each of the wave components
from the mean - gives wave
spectrum (Energy spectrum)

Frequency

Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 1

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Wave Growth

Basic concepts
Manual forecasting techniques
Changing Wind
Swell Forecasting

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Wave Heights, Wind and Fetch

Energy from the wind is transferred to
waves
Waves lose energy
Whitecapping
Interaction with sea floor etc

The greater the wind speed, the higher the

waves
The longer the duration of the wind, the
higher the waves
The greater the distance over which the
wind blows (the FETCH) the higher the
waves.

Wave height
depends on a
balance
between
energy in and
energy out

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Wind Wave Growth

Growth usually explained by shear flow
instability
Airflow sucks at crests and pushes on troughs

Rate of growth is exponential as it depends

on the existing sea state and wave age
Empirical formulae have been derived from
large data set
Curves developed for manual forecasting
Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 1
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Characteristic Height and Period of Deep

Water Waves
Empirical Studies show:
2

u
gt
u
gX
H c ht ( ) hx ( 2 )
g
u
g
u
Duration limited

Fetch limited

u
gt
u
gX
Tc
pt ( )
px ( 2 )
g
u
g
u

t = duration of
wind
X=fetch
u = wind speed
g = 9.8m/s2

ht, hx, pt and px are dimensionless functions.

They all tend to a limit as the parameter (gt/u or
gX/u2) increases to ~ 105

Wave Height and Period

= gt/u
or gX/u2

hx()

u
H c h ( )
g
u
Tc
p ( )
g

ht()

px()

pt()

Wave Height and Period for General

Conditions
Need to take the fetch and duration (time for
which the wind is blowing) into account
Can use the general curves based on nondimensional parameters
simple diagram, complicated calculation

OR use a more complicated set of curves

Complicated diagram, no calculation

May need to take into account varying wind

conditions (changes in direction and/or speed)
Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 1
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Manual Wave Forecasting Diagram

(Gren and Dorrestein, 1976

2.8m

Need fetch
>80km
Fetch=25km

1.8m

5.8s
4s

Range of Wave Heights and

Periods
Wave heights can range from 0 to 2Hc
The factor of 2 relates to the maximum wave
likely to be observed in a period of a few hours,
not the absolute maximum possible. The value
depends only weakly on the length of time.

Most waves have periods in the range 0.5Tc

to 1.5Tc
Important when forecasting swell
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Wave Heights with Changing Wind

Conditions
1. Change in wind direction

If wind direction changes by < 30, calculate

waves conditions as if no change in direction has
occurred
If wind direction changes by > 30, treat existing
waves as swell waves, and start calculation for
new wind direction from scratch.
As a rule of thumb, swell will decrease in height
by 25% over period of 12 hours
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Wave Heights with Changing Wind

Conditions
2. Increasing wind speed (direction change <30)
New wind speed is V2
Take wave height at time of increase = H1
Calculate the duration required to achieve H1
given the new wind speed (=T1)
If the new speed lasts for time T2, calculate wave
conditions assuming duration = T1 + T2 and speed
= V2.
Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 2
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Example of Increasing Wind

An 8 m/s wind has blown for 6 hours, fetch
100km
The wind gradually increases to 16m/s over a
6 hour period.
Estimate Hc and Tc at the end of the period
For a quick calculation, when wind speed
increase is gradual from v1 to v2 over a period,
use speed = v2 (v2-v1)/4 as the speed in the
calculation.
Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 2
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Wave Heights with Changing Wind

Conditions
3. Slackening wind speed
When wind drops below speed needed to
maintain height of existing waves*, the
waves turn into swell.
As a first approximation, swell height may
be reduced by 25% every 12 hours.
* The minimum wind speed that will produce the
existing wave height at the specified fetch

Swell Forecasting
For distant storms, regard the source of the
swell as a point
For nearby storms the situation is more
complicated

Questions:
When will the swell arrive?
Which wavelengths are involved?
What is the height of the swell?

Here we develop some simple, first

approximations

Swell Length and Arrival Time

Longest wavelengths travel fastest, so they arrive
first
Range of periods is T~ 0.5Tc to 1.5Tc
Other periods exist, but the energy in them is small

1.56T2 m

(T in secs)

Speed is 1.515 T knots (T in secs)

Longest waves arrive after time:
Time ~ distance (NM)/(1.5*1.5Tc) hrs
Shortest waves take 3 times as long to arrive.

Eg: Tc=6secs, distance = 600 nm, min time = 44 hours

maximum swell length = 126m

Swell Height
Height of swell depends on
Height of waves in source region, and extent of source
region
Speed dispersion (longer waves and shorter waves have
different speeds dont arrive together)
Angular spreading of the waves (height decreases with
distance as wave energy spreads over larger areas)
Angle between wind direction and direction to storm

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Angular Spreading of Swell from a Storm

% spreading
factor for
energy
Wind direction in storm

Distance to storm/extent of storm

Extent of storm

Swell calculated here

Factor =0.15

Take square
root for
swell height
Eg: Swell =
0.15 * Hc
2

Wave Measurements
Visual observations
Instruments for measuring waves
Buoys
Sub-surface pressure sensors
Laser

Remote sensing
Radar Altimeter
Synthetic Aperture Radar
Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 2
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Visual Observations
Guide only as visual observations are not
generally reliable
Observations of height tend to approximate
to the significant wave height

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Instruments
Wave buoys
Vertical acceleration measured can be
converted to wave height

Wave staff
Attached to platforms wave height measured
by change in resistance or capacitance of the
wave staff
Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 2
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Instruments (2)
Pressure sensors
Mounted from platforms below surface
change in pressure is measure of wave height

Laser
Attached to platforms pointing downward

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Remote Sensing
Waves from ERS-2 Radar Altimeter

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Remote Sensing (2)

Synthetic Aperture Radar
Successive radar observations made along
satellite track
Optical or digital processing produces high
grade imaging of the longer waves
Wave directional spectrum (with 180o
ambiguity) obtained by analysis of image
Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 3
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Finally.
The accuracy of any wave forecast is
dependant on the accuracy of the
wind forecast.

Workshop on Wind Wav17 June, 3

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