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A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Ocean Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 October 2021) | Viewed by 39172

Image courtesy of Dr. Sonia Ponce de León

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sonia Ponce de León

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Guest Editor

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: extreme waves; wave–current interaction; freak waves; nonlinear interactions; remote sensing; spectral wave modelling; climate change; cyclones

Prof. Dr. Takuji Waseda

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Guest Editor

Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8563, Japan
Interests: nonlinear waves; rogue waves; ocean waves; extreme waves; wave-ice interaction; marine renewable energy; remote sensing; metocean support
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Ian Young

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Guest Editor

Melbourne School of Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Interests: ocean wave dynamics; ocean wave climate; extreme winds and waves; ocean wave modelling

Prof. Dr. Alfred Osborne

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Guest Editor

Nonlinear Waves Research Corporation, Alexandria, VA, USA
Interests: ocean dynamics; ocean surface and internal waves; rogue waves; solitons; nonlinear Fourier analysis; nonlinear waves

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Please let me bring to your attention this information about the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (JMSE) Special Issue on "Extreme Waves”.

This Special Issue will focus on the use of theoretical, numerical, and experimental approaches to better understanding and predicting extreme waves in the ocean. The Special Issue will cover the following topics:

Extreme waves in the open ocean and in the coastal zone;
Extreme events (storm surges and cyclones);
Remote sensing of extreme waves;
Probabilistic and statistical methods for extreme wave studies;
Hindcasting and forecasting extreme waves;
Interaction of waves and currents;
Theoretical aspects;
Climate change impact on extreme waves.

We look forward to reviewing your manuscripts!

Dr. Sonia Ponce de León
Prof. Dr. Takuji Waseda
Prof. Dr. Ian Young
Prof. Dr. Alfred Osborne
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

extreme waves
wind/wave modelling
theoretical aspects
remote sensing
hindcasting and forecasting extreme waves
storm surges and cyclones
wave–current interaction

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 210 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Extreme Waves

by Sonia Ponce de León, Ian R. Young, Takuji Waseda and Alfred R. Osborne

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(5), 697; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10050697 - 20 May 2022

Viewed by 1492

Abstract

The occurrence of exceptionally large waves in regions of high maritime traffic has severe consequences, ranging from complicating navigation routes to the loss of ships and human lives [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Other

25 pages, 7721 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Assessments of Hurricane Wave Hindcasts

by Peter Rogowski, Sophia Merrifield, Clarence Collins, Tyler Hesser, Allison Ho, Randy Bucciarelli, James Behrens and Eric Terrill

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(7), 690; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070690 - 24 Jun 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2313

Abstract

Landfalling tropical cyclones (TC) generate extreme waves, introducing significant property, personal, and financial risks and damage. Accurate simulations of the sea state during these storms are used to support risk and damage assessments and the design of coastal structures. However, the TCs generate a complex surface gravity wave field as a result of the inherently strong temporal and spatial gradients of the wind forcing. This complexity is a significant challenge to model. To advance our understanding of the performance of these models on the eastern seaboard of the United States, we conduct an assessment of four hindcast products, three based on WAVEWATCH-III and the other using the Wave Modeling project, for six major landfall TCs between 2011–2019. Unique to our assessment was a comprehensive analysis of these hindcast products against an array of fixed wave buoys that generate high quality data. The analysis reveals a general tendency for the wave models to underestimate significant wave height (Hs) around the peak of the TC. However, when viewed on an individual TC basis, distinct Hs error patterns are evident. Case studies of hurricanes Sandy and Florence illustrate complex Hs bias patterns, likely resulting from various mechanisms including insufficient resolution, improper wind input and source term parameterization (e.g., drag coefficient), and omission of wave–current interactions. Despite the added challenges of simulating complex wave fields in shallow coastal waters, the higher resolution Wave Information Study and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (ST4 parameterization only) hindcasts perform relatively well. Results from this study illustrate the challenge of simulating the spatial and temporal variability of TC generated wave fields and demonstrate the value of in-situ validation data such as the north Atlantic buoy array. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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18 pages, 5544 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wave Height Distributions and Rogue Waves in the Eastern Mediterranean

by Sagi Knobler, Daniel Bar, Rotem Cohen and Dan Liberzon

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(6), 660; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9060660 - 14 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2898 | Correction

Abstract

There is a lack of scientific knowledge about the physical sea characteristics of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. The current work offers a comprehensive view of wave fields in southern Israel waters covering a period between January 2017 and June 2018. The analyzed data were collected by a meteorological buoy providing wind and wave parameters. As expected for this area, the strongest storm events occurred throughout October–April. In this paper, we analyze the buoy data following two main objectives—identifying the most appropriate statistical distribution model and examining wave data in search of rogue wave presence. The objectives were accomplished by comparing a number of models suitable for deep seawater waves. The Tayfun–Fedele third-order model showed the best agreement with the tail of the empirical wave height distribution. The examination of different statistical thresholds for the identification of rogue waves resulted in the detection of 109 unique waves, all of relatively low height. The characteristics of the detected rogue waves were examined, revealing that the majority of them presented crest-to-trough symmetry. This finding calls for a reevaluation of the crest amplitude being equal to or above 1.25, the significant wave height threshold which assumes rogue waves carry most of their energy in the crest. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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22 pages, 9916 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Triads and Rogue Events for Internal Waves in Stratified Fluids with a Constant Buoyancy Frequency

by Qing Pan, Hui-Min Yin and Kwok W. Chow

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(6), 577; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9060577 - 26 May 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2113

Abstract

Internal waves in a stratified fluid with a constant buoyancy frequency were studied, with special attention given to rogue modes, extreme waves, dynamical evolution, and Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou type recurrence phenomena. Rogue waves for triads in a general physical setting have recently been derived analytically, but the implications in a fluid mechanics context have not yet been fully assessed. Numerical simulations were conducted for cases of coupled triads where the common member is a daughter wave mode. In sharp contrast with previous studies, rogue modes instead of plane waves were used as the initial condition. Furthermore, spatial dependence was incorporated. Rogue or extreme waves in one set of triads provided a possible mechanism for significant energy transfer among modes of the internal wave spectrum, in addition to the other known theories, e.g., weak turbulence. Remarkably, Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou recurrence types of growth and decay cycles arose, similar to those observed for surface gravity wave groups governed by the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation. These mechanisms will enhance our understanding of transport processes in oceans. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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20 pages, 4147 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Dangerous Sea States in the Northwestern Mediterranean Area

by Alessio Innocenti, Miguel Onorato and Carlo Brandini

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(4), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9040422 - 14 Apr 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2072

Abstract

Extreme sea waves, although rare, can be notably dangerous when associated with energetic sea states and can generate risks for the navigation. In the last few years, they have been the object of extensive research from the scientific community that helped with understanding the main physical aspects; however, the estimate of extreme waves probability in operational forecasts is still debated. In this study, we analyzed a number of sea-states that occurred in a precise area of the Mediterranean sea, near the location of a reported accident, with the objective of relating the probability of extreme events with different sea state conditions. For this purpose, we performed phase-resolving simulations of wave spectra obtained from a WaveWatch III hindcast, using a Higher Order Spectral Method. We produced statistics of the sea-surface elevation field, calculating crest distributions and the probability of extreme events from the analysis of a long time-series of the surface elevation. We found a good matching between the distributions of the numerically simulated field and theory, namely Tayfun second- and third- order ones, in contrast with a significant underestimate given by the Rayleigh distribution. We then related spectral quantities like angular spreading and wave steepness to the probability of occurrence of extreme events finding an enhanced probability for high mean steepness seas and narrow spectra, in accordance with literature results, finding also that the case study of the reported accident was not amongst the most dangerous. Finally, we related the skewness and kurtosis of the surface elevation to the wave steepness to explain the discrepancy between theoretical and numerical distributions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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31 pages, 10040 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Altimeter Observations of Tropical Cyclone-generated Sea States: Spatial Analysis and Operational Hindcast Evaluation

by Clarence Collins, Tyler Hesser, Peter Rogowski and Sophia Merrifield

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(2), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9020216 - 18 Feb 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4347 | Correction

Abstract

Tropical cyclones (TC) are some of the most intense weather systems on Earth and are responsible for generating hazardous waves on the sea surface that dominate the extreme wave climate in several regions, including the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. East Coast. Modeling these waves is crucial for engineering applications, yet it is notoriously difficult, due to TC’s compact structure and rapid evolution in space and time relative to other weather systems. To better understand the wave structure under TCs, we use satellite altimeter data paired with TC tracks. We parse the data by TC intensity and forward translation velocity, finding evidence of extended fetch. We use the altimeter data to evaluate operational hindcasts, including the US Army Corps of Engineer’s Wave Information Study, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction Production Hindcast, and the Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (Ifremer) hindcast. The Ifremer hindcast (1990–2016) is examined in detail. Near the eye in the TC-centered reference frame, we find a pattern of model underestimation in the left sector and overestimation in the right sector except near the eye where wave height remains underestimated. This pattern holds, albeit modulated, across various intensities, forward translation velocities, and radii of maximum winds; the exceptions being the fastest translating storms where the error pattern shows a trend towards overestimation in all sectors. The error patterns for intense and compact TCs exhibited more severe underestimation, which dominated the region near the TC eye. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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17 pages, 92224 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Extreme Waves in the Agulhas Current Region Inferred from SAR Wave Spectra and the SWAN Model

by Sonia Ponce de León and C. Guedes Soares

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(2), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9020153 - 02 Feb 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4701

Abstract

The influence of the Agulhas Current on the wave field is investigated. The study is conducted by performing high resolution spectral wave model simulations with and without ocean currents. The validation of the numerical simulations is performed for the Significant Wave Height (Hs) using all possible satellite altimetry data available in the study region for a winter period of 2018. Wave spectra and extreme waves parameters are examined in places where waves and current are aligned in the Agulhas Current. Sentinel-1 (S1) wave mode Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) spectra are used to estimate the composites of the Hs and BFI (Benjamin–Feir Index). SAR computed BFI and Hs were compared with the respective composites obtained from the Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) model. From the Hs composites using SAR data and modeled data, it can be concluded that the Hs maxima values are distributed in the Agulhas Current Retroflection (ACR) and also in the southern limit of the domain that is affected by the strong circumpolar winds around Antarctic. In addition, the BFI composites exhibit the highest values in the ACR and some few values are observed in the southern border as occurred with the Hs. The results of this study indicate that there is direct correlation between the Agulhas Current strength, the Hs and the BFI. It was found that the modeled directional wave spectra are broadened when the ocean current is considered in the simulation. The analysis of the modeled wave spectra is performed over eddies, rings and meanders in the Agulhas Current region. The transformation of the wave spectra due to current refraction is discussed based on the numerical simulations. The effect of the Agulhas Current on the spectral shape is explored. The spectral wave energy grows when the wave and the current are aligned, resulting in peaked, elongated and widened spectra. A decrease of the peak period was observed before the occurrence of maximum values of BFI, which characterize abnormal sea states. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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19 pages, 5341 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Reliability of Extreme Significant Wave Height Estimation from Satellite Altimetry and In Situ Measurements in the Coastal Zone

by Ben Timmermans, Andrew G. P. Shaw and Christine Gommenginger

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(12), 1039; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8121039 - 21 Dec 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3306

Abstract

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. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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16 pages, 1573 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Computed Wave Spectra on Statistical Wave Properties

by Tatjana Kokina and Frederic Dias

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(12), 1023; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8121023 - 15 Dec 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2686

Abstract

The main goal of the paper is to compare the effects of the wave spectrum, computed using the Discrete Interaction Approximation (DIA) and the Webb–Resio–Tracy (WRT) methods, on statistical wave properties such as skewness and kurtosis in the context of large ocean waves. The statistical properties are obtained by integrating the three-dimensional free-surface Euler equations with a high-order spectral method combined with a phenomenological filter to account for the energy dissipation due to breaking waves. In addition, we investigate the minimum spatial domain size required to obtain meaningful statistical wave properties. The example we chose to illustrate the influence of the wave spectrum on statistical wave properties is that of a hindcast of the sea state that occurred when the extreme Draupner wave was recorded. The numerical simulations are performed over a physical domain of size 4.13 km × 4.13 km. The results indicate that statistical properties must be computed over an area of at least 4 km

^{2}

. The results also suggest that selecting a more computationally expensive WRT method does not affect the statistical values to a great extent. The most noticeable effect is due to the energy dissipation filter that is applied. It is concluded that selecting the WRT or the DIA algorithm for computing the wave spectrum needed for the numerical simulations does not lead to major differences in the statistical wave properties. However, more accurate energy dissipation mechanisms due to wave breaking are needed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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16 pages, 23908 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Long-Term and Seasonal Trends in Global Wave Height Extremes Derived from ERA-5 Reanalysis Data

by Alicia Takbash and Ian R. Young

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(12), 1015; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8121015 - 11 Dec 2020

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 3274

Abstract

A non-stationary extreme value analysis of 41 years (1979–2019) of global ERA5 (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis) significant wave height data is undertaken to investigate trends in the values of 100-year significant wave height,

H_{s}^{100}

. The analysis shows [...] Read more.

H_{s}^{100}

. The analysis shows that there has been a statistically significant increase in the value of

H_{s}^{100}

over large regions of the Southern Hemisphere. There have also been smaller decreases in

H_{s}^{100}

in the Northern Hemisphere, although the related trends are generally not statistically significant. The increases in the Southern Hemisphere are a result of an increase in either the frequency or intensity of winter storms, particularly in the Southern Ocean. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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21 pages, 7025 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measured Rogue Waves and Their Environment

by Mark D. Orzech and David Wang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(11), 890; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110890 - 07 Nov 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2927

Abstract

We conduct a comprehensive analysis of over 350 years of accumulated ocean surface elevation time series and examine evidence for the effects of nonlinear frequency modulation, wave directional spread, surface current shear, and wind forcing on the likelihood of rogue wave development. Hourly sections of positional time series from 34 surface buoys are examined to identify over 8000 rogue wave events, recording wave sizes, times of occurrence, and geographic locations. The initial dataset is subjected to a quality control process to identify and remove false positives. We investigate the correlation of rogue events with the specified marine environmental factors in an attempt to validate the predictions of earlier theoretical and modeling analyses. The rogue event dataset is contrasted with a control, non-rogue dataset containing a total of nearly 510,000 hourly data segments of surface wave data. The analysis combines the wave records with surface current and wind data from state-of-the-art global coupled models. Statistics of the identified rogue events are summarized, and results of the environmental factor analysis are presented and discussed. This study finds some support for a causal connection between each of the environmental factors and the development of rogue waves. Results also suggest that localized environmental conditions at specific sites, such as seasonal variations in directional spread and/or high surface current vorticity, may provide useful signals of greater rogue wave threat. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Waves)

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