Reliability of extreme significant wave height estimation from satellite altimetry and in situ measurements in the coastal zone

Timmermans, Ben ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2220-8489; Shaw, Andrew G. P.; Gommenginger, Christine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6941-1671. 2020 Reliability of extreme significant wave height estimation from satellite altimetry and in situ measurements in the coastal zone. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 8 (12), 1039. 10.3390/jmse8121039

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse8121039

Abstract/Summary

Measurements of significant wave height from satellite altimeter missions are finding increasing application in investigations of wave climate, sea state variability and trends, in particular as the means to mitigate the general sparsity of in situ measurements. However, many questions remain over the suitability of altimeter data for the representation of extreme sea states and applications in the coastal zone. In this paper, the limitations of altimeter data to estimate coastal Hs extremes (<10 km from shore) are investigated using the European Space Agency Sea State Climate Change Initiative L2P altimeter data v1.1 product recently released. This Sea State CCI product provides near complete global coverage and a continuous record of 28 years. It is used here together with in situ data from moored wave buoys at six sites around the coast of the United States. The limitations of estimating extreme values based on satellite data are quantified and linked to several factors including the impact of data corruption nearshore, the influence of coastline morphology and local wave climate dynamics, and the spatio-temporal sampling achieved by altimeters. The factors combine to lead to considerable underestimation of estimated Hs 10-yr return levels. Sensitivity to these factors is evaluated at specific sites, leading to recommendations about the use of satellite data to estimate extremes and their temporal evolution in coastal environments.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.3390/jmse8121039
ISSN:	2077-1312
Date made live:	08 Jan 2021 09:03 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529350

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.3390/jmse8121039

ISSN:

2077-1312

Date made live:

08 Jan 2021 09:03 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529350