Wave Climate from Spectra and Its Connections with Local and Remote Wind Climate

Abstract

Wind-generated waves can propagate over large distances. Therefore, wave spectra from a fixed point can record information about air?sea interactions in distant areas. In this study, the spectral wave climate for a point in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean is computed. Several well-defined wave climate systems are observed in the mean wave spectrum. Significant seasonal cycling, long-term trends, and correlations with the Southern Oscillation, the Arctic Oscillation, and the Antarctic Oscillation are observed in the local wave spectra, showing abundant climatic information. Projections of wind vectors on the directions pointing to the target location are used to connect the spectral wave climate and basin-scale wind climate, because significant correlations are observed between the wave spectra and the wind projections of both local and remote wind systems. The origins of all the identified wave climate systems, including the westerlies and the trade winds in both hemispheres, are clearly shown in wind projection maps. Some of these origins are thousands of kilometers away from the target point, demonstrating the validity of this connection. Comparisons are made between wave spectra and the corresponding local and remote wind fields with respect to seasonal and interannual variability and long-term trends. The results show that each frequency and direction of ocean wave spectra at a certain location can be approximately linked to the wind field for a geographical area, implying that it is feasible to reconstruct spectral wave climates from observational wind field data and monitor wind climates from observational wave spectra geographically far away.