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Title: Thirty-four years of Hawaii wave hindcast from downscaling of climate forecast system reanalysis

Abstract

The complex wave climate of Hawaii includes a mix of seasonal swells and wind waves from all directions across the Pacific. Numerical hindcasting from surface winds provides essential space-time information to complement buoy and satellite observations for studies of the marine environment. We utilize WAVEWATCH III and SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) in a nested grid system to model basin-wide processes as well as high-resolution wave conditions around the Hawaiian Islands from 1979 to 2013. The wind forcing includes the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) for the globe and downscaled regional winds from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Long-term in-situ buoy measurements and remotely-sensed wind speeds and wave heights allow thorough assessment of the modeling approach and data products for practical application. The high-resolution WRF winds, which include orographic and land-surface effects, are validated with QuickSCAT observations from 2000 to 2009. The wave hindcast reproduces the spatial patterns of swell and wind wave events detected by altimeters on multiple platforms between 1991 and 2009 as well as the seasonal variations recorded at 16 offshore and nearshore buoys around the Hawaiian Islands from 1979 to 2013. The hindcast captures heightened seas in interisland channels and around prominent headlands, but tendsmore » to overestimate the heights of approaching northwest swells and give lower estimates in sheltered areas. Finally, the validated high-resolution hindcast sets a baseline for future improvement of spectral wave models.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
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  1. Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States)
  2. Univ. of Brest, Plouzane (France)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1682357
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1338845
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG36-08GO18180; FG36-08G018180
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Ocean Modelling
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 100; Journal ID: ISSN 1463-5003
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER; Swells; Wind waves; Wave hindcast; Island sheltering; Spectral wave models; Weather Research and Forecasting model

Citation Formats

Li, Ning, Cheung, Kwok Fai, Stopa, Justin E., Hsiao, Feng, Chen, Yi-Leng, Vega, Luis, and Cross, Patrick. Thirty-four years of Hawaii wave hindcast from downscaling of climate forecast system reanalysis. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2016.02.001.
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Li, Ning, Cheung, Kwok Fai, Stopa, Justin E., Hsiao, Feng, Chen, Yi-Leng, Vega, Luis, & Cross, Patrick. Thirty-four years of Hawaii wave hindcast from downscaling of climate forecast system reanalysis. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2016.02.001
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Li, Ning, Cheung, Kwok Fai, Stopa, Justin E., Hsiao, Feng, Chen, Yi-Leng, Vega, Luis, and Cross, Patrick. Wed . "Thirty-four years of Hawaii wave hindcast from downscaling of climate forecast system reanalysis". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2016.02.001. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1682357.
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@article{osti_1682357,
title = {Thirty-four years of Hawaii wave hindcast from downscaling of climate forecast system reanalysis},
author = {Li, Ning and Cheung, Kwok Fai and Stopa, Justin E. and Hsiao, Feng and Chen, Yi-Leng and Vega, Luis and Cross, Patrick},
abstractNote = {The complex wave climate of Hawaii includes a mix of seasonal swells and wind waves from all directions across the Pacific. Numerical hindcasting from surface winds provides essential space-time information to complement buoy and satellite observations for studies of the marine environment. We utilize WAVEWATCH III and SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) in a nested grid system to model basin-wide processes as well as high-resolution wave conditions around the Hawaiian Islands from 1979 to 2013. The wind forcing includes the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) for the globe and downscaled regional winds from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Long-term in-situ buoy measurements and remotely-sensed wind speeds and wave heights allow thorough assessment of the modeling approach and data products for practical application. The high-resolution WRF winds, which include orographic and land-surface effects, are validated with QuickSCAT observations from 2000 to 2009. The wave hindcast reproduces the spatial patterns of swell and wind wave events detected by altimeters on multiple platforms between 1991 and 2009 as well as the seasonal variations recorded at 16 offshore and nearshore buoys around the Hawaiian Islands from 1979 to 2013. The hindcast captures heightened seas in interisland channels and around prominent headlands, but tends to overestimate the heights of approaching northwest swells and give lower estimates in sheltered areas. Finally, the validated high-resolution hindcast sets a baseline for future improvement of spectral wave models.},
doi = {10.1016/j.ocemod.2016.02.001},
journal = {Ocean Modelling},
number = ,
volume = 100,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Wed Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2016.02.001
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Cited by: 44 works
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Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Nested computational grids for spectral wave and mesoscale atmospheric modeling.
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    On the improvement of wave and storm surge hindcasts by downscaled atmospheric forcing: application to historical storms
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    • Bresson, Émilie; Arbogast, Philippe; Aouf, Lotfi
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    Advancing the integration of spatial data to map human and natural drivers on coral reefs
    journal, March 2018

    On the improvement of wave and storm surge hindcasts by downscaled atmospheric forcing: application to historical storms
    journal, January 2018

    • Bresson, Émilie; Arbogast, Philippe; Aouf, Lotfi
    • Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 18, Issue 4
    • DOI: 10.5194/nhess-18-997-2018
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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Table 1 (p. 30)table
      Table 2 (p. 30)table
      Table 3 (p. 31)table
      Table 4 (p. 31)table
      Table 5 (p. 32)table
      Figure 1 (p. 33)figure
      Figure 2 (p. 34)figure
      Figure 3 (p. 35)figure
      Figure 4 (p. 36)figure
      Figure 5 (p. 37)figure
      Figure 6 (p. 38)figure
      Figure 7 (p. 39)figure
      Figure 8 (p. 40)figure
      Figure 9 (p. 41)figure
      Figure 10 (p. 42)figure
      Figure 11 (p. 43)figure
      Figure 12 (p. 44)figure
      Figure 13 (p. 45)figure
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