Global validation of the wave model WAM over a one-year period using geosat wave height data

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/92JC02258· OSTI ID:6598360

Romeiser, R ^[1]

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1. Universitaet Hamburg (Germany)

The high quality of wave fields simulated by the third-generation wave model WAM has already been demonstrated in various validation studies using in situ measurements as well as data from satellites as reference. However, owing to limitations of the reference data sets, the previous studies concentrated on relatively small regions or short time periods only, for which adequate measurements were available. In this paper the first global verification of the WAM model over a full 1-year period is presented. The significant wave heights hindcast for 1988 by the WAM model as implemented at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts are compared with measurements obtained by the Geosat radar altimeter. The wave heights from WAM and Geosat show good agreement in general. However, significant regional and seasonal differences are found. The hindcast wave heights are underestimated by about 20% in large parts of the southern hemisphere and the tropical region during May-September. For the rest of the time, the agreement with Geosat data is fairly good. Together with the fact that also the rms variability of wave heights in the tropical region is clearly underestimated by WAM, this can possibly be attributed to simplifications like the neglect of atmospheric stratification effects when converting wind speeds to the wind stress fields driving WAM. Furthermore, the intercomparison indicates that low wave heights below [approx]1.5 m are generally overestimated by WAM. As it is planned to use altimeter wave heights for updating wave models in future data assimilation systems, it is quite important to have efficient quality control criteria for these data. The difference between the Geosat and WAM wave heights shows a clear dependence on the additional parameters in some cases, which must be related to quality problems of the Geosat data. Some new criteria for the rejection of incorrect Geosat data points are obtained. 16 refs., 6 figs.

• OSTI ID: 6598360
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 98:C3; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
SATELLITES
REMOTE SENSING
W CODES
VALIDATION
WATER WAVES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
GLOBAL ANALYSIS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
HEIGHT
QUALITY CONTROL
RADAR
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
STRATIFICATION
VERIFICATION
WEATHER
WIND
COMPUTER CODES
CONTROL
DIMENSIONS
EARTH PLANET
GRAVITY WAVES
MATHEMATICS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
PLANETS
RANGE FINDERS
SIMULATION
TESTING
VARIATIONS
540310* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (1990-)