The long-termtrend of the sea surface wind speed and the wave height (wind wave, swell, mixed wave) in global ocean during the last 44 a

Abstract

Utilizing the 45 a European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis wave data (ERA-40), the long-term trend of the sea surface wind speed and (wind wave, swell, mixed wave) wave height in the global ocean at grid point 1.5°×1.5° during the last 44 a is analyzed. It is discovered that a majority of global ocean swell wave height exhibits a significant linear increasing trend (2–8 cm/decade), the distribution of annual linear trend of the significant wave height (SWH) has good consistency with that of the swell wave height. The sea surface wind speed shows an annually linear increasing trend mainly concentrated in the most waters of Southern Hemisphere westerlies, high latitude of the North Pacific, Indian Ocean north of 30°S, the waters near the western equatorial Pacific and low latitudes of the Atlantic waters, and the annually linear decreasing mainly in central and eastern equator of the Pacific, Juan. Fernandez Archipelago, the waters near South Georgia Island in the Atlantic waters. The linear variational distribution characteristic of the wind wave height is similar to that of the sea surface wind speed. Another find is that the swell is dominant in themixed wave, the swell index in the central ocean is generally greater than that in the offshore, and the swell index in the eastern ocean coast is greater than that in thewestern ocean inshore, and in year-round hemisphere westerlies the swell index is relatively low.