Directional spectra of hurricane wind waves

Abstract

A comprehensive directional wave buoy data set showing the directional wave spectrum during the passage of a number of hurricanes is presented. The data confirm remote sensing measurements, showing that waves in the forward quadrants of the storm are dominated by swell radiating out from the intense wind regions to the right of the storm centre. The data show that for almost all quadrants of the storm, the dominant waves are remotely generated swell. The directional spectra are composed of swell at low frequency (the dominant waves) and locally generated waves above approximately three times the spectral peak frequency. There is, however, no tendency for the spectrum to become bi-modal in ei..