Field Measurements of Duration-Limited Growth of Wind-Generated Ocean Surface Waves at Young Stage of Development

Abstract

The issue of duration-limited growth of wind-generated waves is of importance to wave studies. Most analytical solutions for wind waves are given in time rather than fetch domain. Numerical modeling of wave development is also often conducted in temporal evolution mode. Experimental data of duration-limited growth, however, are rare and do not cover a wide range of the wave development stage. As a result, theorists and modelers have to rely on fetch-limited evolution data, converting them into duration-limited conditions on the basis of some assumptions. During one of the field experiments of wind wave measurements, a dataset was obtained that is almost ideal for duration-limited wave growth analysis. The dataset extends the range of coverage in dimensionless time of the existing database by about one order of magnitude. The results of analysis provide strong support for the relation of space?time conversion for rendering the fetch-limited growth functions to duration-limited growth functions. Quantitative discussions on the development rate of fetch and duration growth are presented.