Measured storm wave frequency-direction spectra are presented to illustrate the evolution of wind wave energy distributions near times of high energy. Twenty-nine storm events, extracted from a 5-year database, are identified and described. Instrumentation consists of a nine-element linear array of bottom-mounted pressure gauges distributed along the 8-m isobath about 900 m offshore of Duck, NC, site of the Field Research Facility (FRF) of the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Coastal Engineering Research Center. Iterative Maximum Likelihood Estimation is used to determine directional distributions of wave energy. Events, identified by elevation and duration of wave energy, are due to both localized storms and long-period swell radiating from major weather events in the distant, deep Atlantic Ocean. Frequency-direction spectra associated with storms known as ''northeasters'' have a curiously recurrent pattern of broad directional distributions at low frequencies near the spectral peaks and distinct bimodal distributions over a broad range of high frequencies. Reasons for this behavior are not obvious but require clarification because such wave patterns do not conform to conventional models used in engineering design. The differences may lead to substantial variations in design results. NOTE: This file is large. Allow your browser several minutes to download the file.


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    Title :

    Storm Evolution of Directional Seas in Shallow Water


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Technical Report ; CERC-94-2


    Publication date :

    1994


    Size :

    38103069


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Classification :


    Directional Characteristics of Waves in Shallow Water

    Long, Charles Edward / Oltman-Shay, Joan M. | HENRY – Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) | 1991

    Free access


    Use of Theoretical Wave Height Distributions in Directional Seas

    Long, Charles Edward | HENRY – Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) | 1991

    Free access

    Use of theoretical wave height distributions in directional seas

    Long, Charles E. / U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station | TIBKAT | 1991