A Twenty Year Northern Hemisphere Wave Spectral Climatology

Abstract

A Northern Hemisphere twenty year (1956–1975) deep water wave spectral climatology is being developed at Fleet Numerical Weather Central (FLENUMWEACEN), Monterey, California, at the request of a Seakeeping Workshop held in June 1975 under the sponsorship of the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command. A modified version of the FLENUMWEACEN operational Spectral Ocean Wave Model (SOWM), originally developed under the direction of Professor Willard J. Pierson (Pierson, Tick and Baer, 1966), is being used to compute the wave spectra. The SOWM has been operational since 1974 and provides real time semi-daily analyses and forecasts out to 72 hours for the Navy’s routine use. In addition, analyses and forecasts have been provided to special projects such as the Marineland and West Coast experiments sponsored by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.