Wave height characteristics in the Mediterranean Sea by means of numerical modeling, satellite data, statistical and geometrical techniques

Abstract

In this paper the main wave height character- istics in the Mediterranean Sea are studied from both observational and numerical perspectives. The numerical wave model WAM is employed on a high spatial resolution mode and in two different versions, one of which incor- porates information for sea surface currents. Altimeter data obtained from all available satellite missions over the area are also utilized. The data sets are analyzed both by con- ventional statistical measures as well as by advanced techniques provided by a relatively new branch of mathe- matics, information geometry, in the framework of which the data under study and the distributions that they form are treated as elements of non Euclidean spaces. In this framework, novel ideas for the estimation of the deviations between the observed and modeled values are proposed.