Wave climate variability in the North Atlantic in recent decades in the winter period using numerical modeling

Abstract

The study focuses on investigating significant wave height, including both mean and extreme values, in the North Atlantic in winter during the period from 1979 to 2010. We perform a 32-year wind wave hindcast for the North Atlantic using a spectral ocean wave model (WaveWatch III) and a high-resolution nonhydrostatic atmospheric model (WRF-ARW), which provides the wind forcing function. Analysis of the 32-year hindcast of wave characteristics in the North Atlantic reveals stronger mean and extreme waves simulated with high resolution modeling systems and identifies significant downward trends in the mean significant wave height in the subpolar North Atlantic. Such trends were not found in the wave characteristics from ERA-Interim reanalysis. At the same time, the 32-year hindcast did not confirm the statistically significance of strong positive trends in the central Atlantic diagnosed by ERA-Interim reanalysis; differences between the reanalysis and hindcast are discussed.