A Study of Wave Characteristics for Northeast Asian Waters with Wave Hindcasting Method, WAM

Abstract

Wave distribution data acquisition is important for ocean development and safety of ships. There are limitations to get the wave distribution data through the installation of observation equipment, so wave hindcasting methods are used. Among the wave hindcasting methods, the WAM model of high precision and simple construction is widely used. In a previous study of Shin et al.(2004), the improved WAM model was suggested so that it is applicable to both shallow water sea and fine mesh wave simulation. In this paper, we investigated and analyzed 2001 to 2007 wave characteristics for Northeast Asian waters based on this improved WAM model. To verify models accuracy, hindcasted wave data were compared with the observed data of waverider at Ieodo Ocean Research Station and Jeju Sea. In the course of this analysis, we identify the wave information according to the seasonal and spatial change and it could be used as an important data of ship and ocean activities.