OCEAN SURFACE WAVES

Scope
• Wave data collection & analysis
• Irregular waves
• Wave spectrum
• Spectral transformation to time series
• Wave directionality
• Wind scale and Sea state scale
• Wave prediction and data presentation
 THE OCEAN WAVES THAT WE OBSERVE ARE A COMPLEX OF MANY
DIFFERENT SETS OF WAVES OF DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS, PERIODS
AND HEIGHT
Wave data collection

• Visually observed data

• Ship observed data
• Instrumental data
• Remote sensing
• Hindcasting
• Operational wave forecast data
 SATELLITE RADAR AIR CRAFT RADAR OR LASER

ORBITAL
FOLLOWING BOUY WAVE STAFF ON
PLATFORM

WAVE SLOPE
BOUY PRESSURE SENSOR
NONDIRECTIONAL NEAR BOTTOM
ACCELEROMETER
BOUY
WAVE ORBITAL
VELOCITY SENSOR

ACOUSTIC
SENSOR
 Wave data analysis
• Continuous data
– Time domain &
frequency domain
analysis
• Discrete data
– Statistical analysis
 Irregular Seas

Superposition of Two Harmonic Superposition of Three Harmonic

Waves with Different Directions Waves with Different Directions
FFT & IFFT – (Inverse) Fast Fourier Transform.
Irregular wave → Regular Waves (Frequency Domain Analysis)
Ocean (Irregular) Waves Definitions

TC

TZ
TD TU

Root-mean-Square (RMS), Skewness and Kurtosis

Ochi (1998) Ocean Waves
Wave height statistics
 Wave Spectrum
• Frequency domain analysis
– To convert the time series of
waves into its spectral density
• Fourier series:

• Wave energy spectrum:

Sζ(ωn).dω= ½ ζan2
Energy Density

Frequency WAVE RECORD ANALYSIS

 Wave height & period from spectra

• nth order moment:

• σζ = RMS= √ m0ζ (Root Mean Square of the water surface
elevation)
• ζa1/3 = 2. √m0ζ (significant wave amplitude)
• H1/3 = 4. √m0ζ (significant wave height)
• T1 = 2π (m0ζ / m1ζ ) (mean centroid wave period; “visual”
period)
• TZ = 2π √(m0ζ / m2ζ ) (mean zero-crossing wave period)
• TC = 2π √(m2ζ / m4ζ ) (mean time between successive
maxima)
 Statistics of wave maxima
• Distribution of peaks of spectra depends upon
bandwidth (frequency dispersion)
• Expressions available for Gaussian & Rayleigh
distributions.
• Average of 1/nth highest peaks
• Actual ocean wave spectra: Rayleigh distribution
• Significant wave height also defined as
• HS ≡ 4. √m0 so that it is independent of bandwidth
• Modal periods: defined as period of the peak of
the spectrum
• Modal frequency: ω0 = 0.4 √(g/ HS)
 Parameters affecting Spectra
• Waves O(10 sec) generated by pressure in
turbulent wind field, and wind shear stress
• Spectrum of wind-generated waves is
function of wind velocity & duration
• “Fully developed” wave field: equilibrium
between energy addition & dissipation.
• Parameters:
– Frequency
– Wave height (function of wind speed)
 Standard wave spectra
• Sζ(ω)= H1/32. f(ω, T)
• One-Parameter Pierson-
Moskowitz spectrum
• Bretschneider or
Modified Two-
Parameter P-M Wave
Spectrum (ISSC or
ITTC Wave Spectrum)
T1 = 3.86 √ H1/3 and T2 =
3.56 √ H1/3
• JONSWAP spectrum
• Ochi-Hubble spectrum
(6-parameter)
 Variation in wave spectra

JONSWAP
UC = 20 m/s

Varying wind speed Varying fetch

Discretization of a continuous
wave spectrum
Actual v/s Design (Long-Crested) Seas
 Wave Directionality &
Directional Waves

• Wave components do not travel in the same direction.

• Directional spectrum
S(ω, χ) = S(ω). G(χ, ω)
where ∫G(ω, χ) dχ = 1 (spreading function)

• Cosine-squared rule
G(ω, χ) = (2/π) cos2 χ ; ‌χ ‌≤ π/2
• Form of the spectrum along each direction is the same;
only its intensity varies as a function of direction
Wave Directionality
 150
S(f,) ( m sec)

100
2

50

0
0.2
50 0.15
Direction (  )
0
0.1
-50 f (Hz)
0.05

Directional wave energy density spectrum

 WMO SEA STATE CODE
MODAL MOST
SEA
H1/3 (m) PERIOD PROBABLE
STA DESCRIPTION
RANGE MODAL
TE
(sec) PERIOD (sec)
0 Calm - - -

1 Smooth sea; ripples, no foam 0 - 0.1 - -

2 Slight sea, small wavelets 0.1 - 0.5 3.3 -12.8 7.5

3 Moderate sea; large wavelets 0.5 -1.25 5.0 -14.8 7.5

4 Rough sea; moderate waves 1.25 -2.5 6.1 -15.2 8.8

5 Very rough sea; foam streaks 2.5 - 4.0 8.3 -15.5 9.7

6 High sea; sea rolls; spray 4.0 - 6.0 9.8-16.2 12.4

7 Very high sea; steep waves 6.0 – 9.0 11.8-18.5 15.0

8 Mountainous seas; foam covered 9.0 -14.0 14.2-18.6 16.4

>8 Mountainous seas; air foam-filled >14.0 15.7-23.7 20.0

NATO Sea State numeral table for
the open ocean North Atlantic