Wave Model Validation for the Northern Gulf of Mexico Littoral Initiative (NGLI) Project

摘要

This report documents the wave measurement and modeling efforts supporting the Northern Gulf of Mexico Littoral Initiative (NGLI). Data from three NDBC buoys acquired during September 2000 are used to validate COAMPS, WAM, and two shallow water wave models - STWAVE and SWAN. Statistical errors of model estimates of significant wave height, mean wave period, mean wave direction, wind speed, and wind direction are computed. Both COAMPS and WAM produce accurate input conditions for driving the shallow water models. SWAN performance is found to be better than that of STWAVE. STWAVE's poorer performance is caused mainly by its limitation in specifying imput wind and wave conditions. Various SWAN modeling parameters are evaluated. Based on the evaluation and validation, an operational wave model using SWAN for the NGLI region has been developed.