Preview

GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY

Advanced search

EXTREME WAVES IN THE MARGINAL RUSSIAN SEAS: UNCERTAINTY OF ESTIMATION AND CLIMATE VARIABILITY

https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2011-4-2-22-29

Abstract

An analysis of extreme characteristics of surface wind waves in the three marginal Russian seas (Barents, Black and the Sea of Okhotsk) was performed using visual wave observations. Estimates of extreme seas, swell and significant wave heights were computed using the initial value distribution method and the peak over threshold method. Due to the use of large samples compiled for the entire seas the differences between the two methods are considerably smaller than those that would be expected for grid-cell estimates. This implies a relatively high reliability of the results. In the Barents Sea both methods demonstrate growing tendencies for the extreme wind waves, while mean values do not exhibit any significant trends. This hints at a considerable modification of the statistical distribution of wind wave heights rather than on general growth of wind seas. Some further perspectives of the analysis of regional wind wave extremes are discussed.

About the Authors

Viktoria Grigorieva

Russian Federation
P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, 36 Nakhimovsky ave. 117997 Moscow, Russia



Sergey Gulev

Russian Federation
P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, 36 Nakhimovsky ave. 117997 Moscow, Russia



Peter Koltermann

Russian Federation

Moscow State University, Moscow Russia



References

1. Caires, S. and Sterl, A. (2005): 100-year return value estimates for wind speed and significant

2. wave height from the ERA-40 data. J. Climate, 18, 1032–1048.

3. Gulev, S.K., Grigorieva, V. Sterl, A. and Woolf, D. (2003a): Assessment of the reliability of

4. wave observations from voluntary observing ships: Insights from the validation of a global

5. wind wave climatology based on voluntary observing ship data. J. Geophys. Res., 108,

6. , doi:10.1029/2002JC001437.

7. Gulev, S.K. and Grigorieva, V. (2004): Last century changes in ocean wind wave height from

8. global visual wave data. Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L24302, doi: 10.1029/2004GL021040.

9. Gulev, S. K., and Grigorieva, V. (2006): Variability of the winter wind waves and swell in the

10. North Atlantic and North Pacific as revealed by the voluntary observing ship data. Journal

11. of Climate, 19, 5667–5685.

12. Loeptien, U., Zolina, O., Gulev, S.K., Latif, M. and Soloviov, V. (2008): Cyclone life cycle

13. characteristics over the Northern Hemisphere in coupled GCMs. Climate Dyn., 31,

14. doi:10.1007/s00382-007-0355-5.

15. Sterl, A. and Caires, S. (2005): Climatology, Variability and Extrema of Ocean Waves – The

16. Web-based KNMI/ERA-40 Wave Atlas. Int. J. Climatol., 25, 963–977, doi: 10.1002/joc.1175.

17. Wang, X.L., Zwiers, F.W. and Swail, V.R. (2004): North Atlantic Ocean Wave Climate Change

18. Scenarios for the Twenty-First Century. Journal of Climate, 17, 2368–2383.

19. Worley, S.J., Woodruff, S.D., Reynolds, R.W., Lubker, S.J. and Lott, N. (2005): ICOADS release

20. 1 data and products, Int. J. Climatol., 25, DOI: 10.1002/joc.1166.

21. Young, I.R., Zieger, S. and Babanin, A.V. (2011): Global Trends in Wind Speed and Wave

22. Height. Science, doi: 10.1126/science.1197219.


Review

For citations:


Grigorieva V., Gulev S., Koltermann P. EXTREME WAVES IN THE MARGINAL RUSSIAN SEAS: UNCERTAINTY OF ESTIMATION AND CLIMATE VARIABILITY. GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY. 2011;4(2):22-29. https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2011-4-2-22-29

Views: 580


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 2071-9388 (Print)
ISSN 2542-1565 (Online)