Study on the influence range of tropical cyclones on ocean waves

Abstract

Extreme waves forced by extreme winds, such as tropical cyclones, pose a great threat to ocean and coastal structures. Therefore, the study on the influence range of tropical cyclones on ocean waves is crucial in the engineering community. In this study, the comparative advantages of different wind input and dissipation schemes available in the third-generation wave model, WAVEWATCH III, are explored in most of the China Seas, where tropical cyclones frequently occur, including the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and northern South China Sea. Compared with buoy observations, the effects of 6 parameterization schemes of input and dissipation source terms on the simulated tropical cyclone-generated waves show that the simulation with the parameterization ST6-4.18 performs well, especially during strong wind. Analyzing the simulated wave fields forced by 90 tropical cyclones, the influence ranges of tropical cyclones on ocean waves are derived, performing along the left and right sides of the tropical cyclone track. The resulting formulas can be used to screen out the tropical cyclone-generated wave for studying the extreme wave and predict the influence of tropical cyclones on waves in the engineering area before the tropical cyclone approaches.