Effect of wave spectrum width on the probability density distribution of wind-wave heights -- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2015,33(5):1124-1131

	Cite this paper:
	LIU Yahao, HOU Yijun, HU Po, LIU Ze. Effect of wave spectrum width on the probability density distribution of wind-wave heights[J]. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2015, 33(5): 1124-1131

Effect of wave spectrum width on the probability density distribution of wind-wave heights

LIU Yahao^1,2, HOU Yijun^1,2, HU Po^1,2, LIU Ze^1,2

1 Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves (KLOCAW), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China;
2 Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China

Abstract:

The probability distribution of wave heights under the assumption of narrowband linear wave theory follows the Rayleigh distribution and the statistical relationships between some characteristic wave heights, derived from this distribution, are widely used for the treatment of realistic wind waves.However, the bandwidth of wave frequency influences the probability distribution of wave heights.In this paper, a wave-spectrum-width parameter B was introduced into the JONSWAP spectrum.This facilitated the construction of a wind-wave spectrum and the reconstruction of wind-wave time series for various growth stages, based on which the probability density distributions of the wind-wave heights were studied statistically.The distribution curves deviated slightly from the theoretical Rayleigh distribution with increasing B.The probability that a wave height exceeded a certain value was clearly smaller than the theoretical value for B ≥0.3, and the difference between them increased with the threshold value.The relation between the H_s/σ ratio and B was investigated statistically, which revealed that the H_s/σ ratio deviated from 4.005 and declined with B.When B reached 0.698 1, the H_s/σ ratio was 3.825, which is about 95.5% of its original value.This indicates an overestimation in the prediction of H_s from H_s=4.005 σ, and provides a potential method for improving the accuracy of the H_s remote sensing retrieval algorithm, critical for extremely large waves under severe sea states.

Key words: wave-spectrum width|probability distribution of wave heights|significant wave height

Received: 2014-05-31 Revised: 2014-07-22

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