Evaluation of Contemporary Ocean Wave Models in Rare Extreme Events: The “Halloween Storm” of October 1991 and the “Storm of the Century” of March 1993

Abstract

Abstract Two recent severe extratropical storms, the “Halloween storm” of October 26–November 2 1991 (HOS) and the “storm of the century” (SOC) of March 12–15 1993, are characterized by measurements of sea states of unprecedented magnitude off the east coast of North America. A Canadian buoy moored in deep water south of Nova Scotia recorded peak significant wave heights (HS) exceeding 16 m in both storms. In SOC, a NOAA buoy moored southeast of Cape Hatteras recorded a peak HS of 15.7 m, a record high for NOAA buoys. These extreme storm seas (ESS) exceed existing estimates of the 100-yr estimated design wave in these regions by about 50%. The extensive wave measurements made in both storms from buoys moored in deep water provide a rare opportunity to validate modern ocean wave models in wave regimes far more severe than those used for model tuning. In this study, four widely applied spectral wave models (OWI1G, Resio2G, WAM4, and OWI3G) are adapted to the western North Atlantic basin on fine mesh grids a...