Abstract
Despite intense maritime activities in the Arabian Gulf, there is a general lack of long-term in-situ wave measurements to inform engineering design. Consequently, there is a very strong reliance on numerical modelling tools to help define extreme design parameters. Wave hindcast models often use satellite altimeter data (in the absence of in-situ measurements) for calibration and validation. The temporal and spatial resolution of altimeter data relative to the scale of the Arabian Gulf limits its application in this region. Notwithstanding these limitations, the satellite altimeter data remains the primary data source for model verification. In this paper wave data from five satellite missions is compared with a numerical metocean hindcast study. A method to assess the uncertainty of the satellite records is discussed.
Highlights
The Middle East contains more than half of the proven world oil reserves
Despite the intense development activities both offshore and along the coastline, there is a general lack of long-term in-situ measurements of waves in the Arabian Gulf
The differences between the two independent studies are relatively small considering that they apply modelled wind fields to generate a modelled sea-state from which the statistical Peak Over Threshold (POT) method is applied to derive the extreme wave heights
Summary
The Middle East contains more than half of the proven world oil reserves. Access to the oil provides huge investment and wealth opportunities in the region with the present economies of many Gulf nations almost solely reliant on the petroleum industry. Despite the intense development activities both offshore and along the coastline, there is a general lack of long-term in-situ measurements of waves in the Arabian Gulf. In the absence of in-situ wave measurements, the wave hindcast models are generally calibrated and validated using satellite altimeter data. Altimetry data from five satellite missions is compared with a numerical wave hindcast study developed for the Arabian Gulf. The application and reliability of the altimetry data as a substitute for in-situ wave data in the confined seas of the Arabian Gulf is investigated. This includes developing quality control procedures or “filtering rules” to apply to the raw altimetry datasets
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