Historical change and variability of spectral wind wave climate in the New York Bight

Abstract

AbstractThe sea surface is a complex superposition of various wave systems, thus, analysing their characteristics provides more meaningful and accurate information compared to conventional integrated wave parameter approaches. The concept of wave family—a population of wave systems within a specific region in spectral space—provides the foundation for investigating the long‐term climatology of wave systems. This study adopts a wave family approach to investigate the climatology of wave systems and their long‐term climate controllers at the location of a coastal buoy in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The frequency‐direction wave spectrum is constructed for a historical 20‐year period by applying the Maximum Entropy Method on directional buoy measurements acquired from the National Data Buoy Center station 44025, located in the New York Bight. The two‐dimensional wave spectrum is partitioned, using the watershed partitioning algorithm, and the occurrence distribution of spectral partitions is calculated to identify predominant wave families. Each of the four identified wave families carries unique characteristics based on spatial formation and duration of propagation prior to arrival at the study site. The study quantifies long‐term trends and variability in wave height of each wave family on a monthly, seasonal and annual level, and their relative importance to the bulk sea‐state climatology. The nexus between the bulk or wave family seasonal wave heights and the climate indices is quantified to identify the wave climate controllers in the study area.