DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Multi-decade high-resolution regional hindcasts for wave energy resource characterization in U.S. coastal waters

Journal Article · · Renewable Energy
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Sandia National Laboratory (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  4. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Long-term, high-resolution, regional wave hindcast datasets were generated using unstructured-grid Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) models for the U.S. coastal waters to support nearshore wave energy development in the U.S. including those bordering U.S. territorial islands. The model domains resolved the entire U.S. exclusive economic zones, with a spatial resolution of approximately 200 m nearshore. The regional SWAN models were driven by the global WAVEWATCH III® model outputs and run for a 42-year period from 1979 to 2020. Extensive model validations were performed using buoy observations and altimeter data. Regional resource characterization was performed based on hindcast data points at 2 km from shore and along the 100 m isobath. Aggregations of wave resource parameters were produced, and spatial and seasonal variations were analyzed for all the regions. Wave resource metrics recommended by international standards, including a 3-hour time series of six resource parameters, hourly frequency- and directionally resolved wave spectra at selected “virtual buoy” locations, and average-annual values of omni-directional wave power, significant wave height, and energy period are publicly disseminated through an Amazon Web Service and a Marine Energy Atlas web application tool to facilitate wave energy research and a wide range of coastal ocean applications.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; NA0003525; AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1988414
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1986069
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-180871
Journal Information:
Renewable Energy, Journal Name: Renewable Energy Vol. 212; ISSN 0960-1481
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (57)

Thirty-four years of Hawaii wave hindcast from downscaling of climate forecast system reanalysis journal April 2016
Forty years wind wave power assessment in the high-energy region of Persian Gulf journal May 2021
The NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2 journal March 2014
Validation of a thirty year wave hindcast using the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis winds journal October 2013
Nearshore wave energy resource characterization along the East Coast of the United States journal July 2021
Renewable Electricity Futures for the United States journal April 2014
The effect of changing sea ice on wave climate trends along Alaska's central Beaufort Sea coast journal May 2022
Development and validation of a high-resolution regional wave hindcast model for U.S. West Coast wave resource characterization journal June 2020
Long-term wind and wave energy resource assessment in the South China sea based on 30-year hindcast data journal September 2018
Atlas of global wave energy from 10 years of reanalysis and hindcast data journal March 2012
The wave and wind power potential in the western Black Sea journal August 2019
Development and validation of a regional-scale high-resolution unstructured model for wave energy resource characterization along the US East Coast journal June 2019
Evaluation of the Worldwide Wave Energy Distribution Based on ERA5 Data and Altimeter Measurements journal January 2021
Pacific Hindcast Performance of Three Numerical Wave Models journal August 2009
Modeling Sea Ice Effects for Wave Energy Resource Assessments journal June 2021
Wave energy resource assessment in the Mediterranean, the Italian perspective journal February 2013
An overview of medium- to long-term predictions of global wave energy resources journal November 2017
Global wave energy resource classification system for regional energy planning and project development journal July 2022
Wind wave prediction in shallow water: Theory and applications journal January 1981
Wave climate and energy resources in the Mariana Islands from a 42-year high-resolution hindcast journal May 2023
Evaluation of Wave-Ice Parameterization Models in WAVEWATCH III® Along the Coastal Area of the Sea of Okhotsk During Winter journal August 2021
Joint Calibration of Multiplatform Altimeter Measurements of Wind Speed and Wave Height over the Past 20 Years journal December 2009
A global wave power resource and its seasonal, interannual and long-term variability journal June 2015
A Third-Generation Model for Wind Waves on Slowly Varying, Unsteady, and Inhomogeneous Depths and Currents journal June 1991
A third-generation wave model for coastal regions: 2. Verification journal April 1999
22-Year wave energy hindcast for the China East Adjacent Seas journal November 2014
Assessment of wave energy resources and their associated uncertainties for two coastal areas in Japan journal November 2020
Interdecadal Variations in Northern Hemisphere Winter Storm Track Intensity journal March 2002
A high-resolution, long-term wave resource assessment of Japan with wave–current effects journal December 2020
National-scale wave energy resource assessment for Australia journal August 2010
Simulation of Wave‐Current Interactions Under Hurricane Conditions Using an Unstructured‐Grid Model: Impacts on Ocean Waves journal May 2018
Computations and Parameterizations of the Nonlinear Energy Transfer in a Gravity-Wave Specturm. Part II: Parameterizations of the Nonlinear Energy Transfer for Application in Wave Models journal November 1985
Wave energy potential in Portugal–Assessment based on probabilistic description of ocean waves parameters journal November 2012
Wave climate and energy resources in American Samoa from a 42-year high-resolution hindcast journal July 2023
A revised assessment of Australia's national wave energy resource journal December 2017
Wave resource characterization at regional and nearshore scales for the U.S. Alaska coast based on a 32-year high-resolution hindcast journal June 2021
A third-generation wave model for coastal regions: 1. Model description and validation journal April 1999
Wave energy resource assessment for the Indian shelf seas journal April 2015
The wave and tidal resource of Scotland journal December 2017
Non-stationary historical trends in wave energy climate for coastal waters of the United States journal November 2020
Directional statistics of the wind and waves journal February 2000
Computation of wind-wave spectra in coastal waters with SWAN on unstructured grids journal March 2010
Assessment of the intra-annual and inter-annual variability of the wave energy resource in the Bay of Biscay (France) journal December 2017
Wave-current interaction near the Gulf Stream during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment journal January 1994
On the Existence of a Fully Developed Wind-Sea Spectrum journal August 1984
Inter-annual and inter-seasonal variability of the Orkney wave power resource journal November 2014
Wave energy assessment in Sicily (Italy) journal June 2015
A time-split nonhydrostatic atmospheric model for weather research and forecasting applications journal March 2008
Wave resource assessment in Oregon and southwest Washington, USA journal April 2014
A Tidal Hydrodynamic Model for Cook Inlet, Alaska, to Support Tidal Energy Resource Characterization journal April 2020
Wave–Current Interaction between Hurricane Matthew Wave Fields and the Gulf Stream journal November 2019
Wave energy conditions in the western French coast journal February 2014
Intercomparison of wind and wave data from the ECMWF Reanalysis Interim and the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis journal March 2014
Quasi-linear Theory of Wind-Wave Generation Applied to Wave Forecasting journal November 1991
Wave energy distribution along the Portuguese continental coast based on a thirty three years hindcast journal November 2018
The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis journal August 2010
Wave energy resources assessment for the multi-modal sea state of Hawaii journal August 2021