Wave Bimodal Spectrum based on Swell and Wind-sea Components

This paper addresses the problem of how to estimate a ocean wave spectrum using standard meteorological information provided by weather forecast companies. A method is proposed for calculating a wave bimodal spectrum using the wind-sea and the swell components, also a description of the commonly used spectrum models are presented. The spectral models are evaluated using real buoy data obtained from the National Data Buoy Center of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The three most frequently used spectral models were considered for comparison, two of them, Pierson-Moskowitz and JONSWAP produce single-peaked spectra while Torsethaugen produces double-peaked spectra. The proposed method showed an improvement in the accuracy of the spectra when independent components for wind-sea and swell were used for estimating the buoy spectra. The accuracy of the spectral estimation is evaluated using a similarity index.