Global atlas of extreme significant wave heights and relative risk ratios

Abstract

Interest in offshore wind, wave, and tidal energy power generation to supply electricity to the grid nearshore or power off-grid applications far offshore has motivated numerous studies of the ocean wave climate, including extreme wave conditions that characterize project risk and wave loads for design. The present study uses the 30′ resolution 31-year Global WAVEWATCH III® model hindcast, the 4′ resolution 31-year coastal US model hindcast, and the US NOAA buoy network to estimate and map the global distribution of the mean, 50-, 5- and 1-year significant wave heights and the relative-risk-ratios computed by non-dimensionalizing these n-year extreme wave heights with their mean values. A two-step linear correction method is applied to correct systematic underbias of model-derived extreme wave heights relative to the observation-derived values, resulting in a 20% or more increase in model-derived values compared to uncorrected ones. The corrected 30’ resolution extreme wave height and relative risk ratio atlas generated herein provides important metrics that support resource characterization and international standards development for the marine energy industry, including resource and site assessment, and the establishment of upper design limits for device type classification and certification to streamline product line development.