Abstract
Wave energy has been studied and explored because of its enormous potential to supply electricity for human activities. However, the uncertainty of its spatial and temporal variations increases the difficulty of harvesting wave energy commercially. There are no large-scale wave converters in commercial operation yet. A thorough understanding of wave energy dynamic behaviors will definitely contribute to the acceleration of wave energy harvesting. In this paper, about 40 years of meteorological data from the Gulf of Mexico were obtained, visualized, and analyzed to reveal the wave power density hotspot distribution pattern, and its correlation with ocean surface water temperatures and salinities. The collected geospatial data were first visualized in MATLAB. The visualized data were analyzed using the deep learning method to identify the wave power density hotspots in the Gulf of Mexico. By adjusting the temporal and spatial resolutions of the different datasets, the correlations between the number of hotspots and their strength levels and the surface temperatures and salinities are revealed. The R value of the correlation between the wave power density hotspots and the salinity changes from −0.371 to −0.885 in a negative direction, and from 0.219 to 0.771 in a positive direction. For the sea surface temperatures, the R values range from −0.474 to 0.393. Certain areas within the Gulf of Mexico show relatively strong correlations, which may be useful for predicting the wave energy behavior and change patterns.
Highlights
Renewable energy is becoming more and more important among different types of energy resources in U.S electricity generation
This paper focuses on the identification and classification of a 40-year wave power density hotspot distribution, and on exploring the correlation pattern between the ocean surface temperature and the sea surface salinity
The wave power densities were calculated from 40 years (1979–2019) of meteorological data from WAVEWATCH III in the Gulf of Mexico, located at 18–30◦ N and 80–98◦ W
Summary
Renewable energy is becoming more and more important among different types of energy resources in U.S electricity generation. In the United States, the potential available wave energy is about 80% of the hydrokinetic ocean energy, including currents and tidal waves [1]. The U.S Department of Energy and the U.S Energy Information Administration estimate that the theoretical wave energy potential along the continental shelf edge can reach up to 2.64 TW/year [2]. The United States is establishing the first wave energy test site in federal waters off the west coast of the United States, which is the PacWave. Wind energy provided 8.4% of U.S electricity generation in 2020, an increase from 7.4% in 2019, which is expected to continue to reach around. Solar energy provided about 2.3% of the U.S
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