Surface wave statistics and spectra for Valiathura coastline, SW coast of India

Abstract

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"><smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"> A series of 12 monthly graphical three-dimensional plots were produced for Valiathura, SW coast of India, taking significant wave height, zero up-crossing period and direction as the three axes. Joint distributions of significant wave height and zero-up crossing period have also been developed for these months to understand the combination of these parameters in random waves. The fair weather period (November–April) was characterized by comparatively moderate wave activity with period ranging from 6 to 17.5 sec and direction of wave approach from 190° to 200°. During rough weather period (May – October), the waves exhibit a wider spread of direction ranging from 190° to 260° with periods ranging from 6 to 13.5 sec and significant wave height ranging from 0.6 to 3.2 m. Wave spectrum curves show that the TMA model gives better results and follows the observed spectra in a large number of cases during fair weather. During rough weather, TMA and Shadrin’s models show almost identical behavior. </smarttagtype></smarttagtype>