Evaluating Height-length Joint Distribution for the Crests of Ocean Waves

Jesper Rydén, Sylvie van Iseghem, Michel Olagnon, Igor Rychlik

Abstract:: Statistical distributions for spatial wave characteristics are not easily obtained from temporal records. We present a probabilistic model which by numerical integration renders the joint density of crest amplitude and crest length for the spatial apparent waves at the crest of a temporal wave. The method needs as input a spectral representation of the sea, possibly a directional spectrum. Comparisons with experimental empirical data, obtained by application of a technique based on Fourier transformation combined with use of the dispersion relation, demonstrate a good agreement, in particular for high crests. In the paper, we also investigate the influence of directionality on the joint distribution.

Key words:: Wavelength, crest height, distribution, directional spectrum