Hurricane Omar Waves Impact on the West Coast of the Guadeloupe Island, October 2008
6
Citation
7
Reference
10
Related Paper
Citation Trend
Abstract:
A swell produced by the Hurricane Omar touched the west Guadeloupean coasts during the period of the 15 th to the 17 th in October 2008.The waves of this swell hit different islands of the Greater and Lesser Antilles arc.The cost of the destruction of this swell was evaluated at $ 46 million.On the island of Basse-Terre in the archipelago of Guadeloupe all the exposed zone, the quiet west coast was impacted by waves of observed height around 2.5 to 3m.The totality of this zone was modified by the effects of the waves, on more 100m in the land.By a complete observation of the Hurricane Omar, the causes and the consequences of the waves are described.The propagation of the waves on the coast and in the land of the west part of the island of Basse-Terre is particularly described.The compilation of the different testimonies, the observations on several spots of the coast and the buoys measurements in the Caribbean Sea allow to give the synoptic of the event and to qualify the consequences of the impact of the waves.To give more accurate values of the characteristics of the waves, some numerical simulations of the wave propagation were made with SWAN under realistic conditions and near the coast.The numerical simulation and the measurements are in accordance with the observations and the different testimonies, waves of 2.5-3m height and 12s of peak period.To conclude, some indications for the future are given to help to protect the coastal population.Keywords:
Archipelago
Swell
West coast
Swell
Banner
Infragravity wave
Cite
Citations (82)
Abstract. The classic characterisation of swell as regular, almost monochromatic, wave trains does not necessarily accurately describe swell in water bodies shielded from the oceanic wave climate. In such enclosed areas the locally generated swell waves still contribute to processes at the air and seabed interfaces, and their presence can be quantified by partitioning wave components based on their speed relative to the wind. We present swell statistics for the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea using 20 years of swell-partitioned model data. The swell significant wave height was mostly under 2âm, and in the winter (DJF) the mean significant swell height was typically less than 0.4âm; higher swell was found in limited nearshore areas. Swell waves were typically short (under 5âs), with mean periods over 8âs being rare. In open-sea areas the average ratio of swell energy (to total energy) was mostly below 0.4 â significantly less than in the World Ocean. Certain coastal areas were swell dominated over half the time, mostly because of weak winds (U<5âmâsâ1) rather than high swell heights. Swell-dominated events with a swell height over 1âm typically lasted under 10âh. A cross-correlation analysis indicates that swell in the open sea is mostly generated from local wind sea when wind decays (dominant time lag roughly 15âh). Near the coast, however, the results suggest that the swell is partially detached from the local wind waves, although not necessarily from the weather system that generates them because the highest swell typically arrives with a roughly 10âh delay after the low-pressure system has already passed.
Swell
Significant wave height
Cite
Citations (0)
Abstract. The classic characterisation of swell as regular, almost monochromatic, wave trains does not necessarily accurately describe swell in water bodies shielded from the oceanic wave climate. In such enclosed areas the locally generated swell waves still contribute to processes at the air and seabed interfaces, and their presence can be quantified by partitioning wave components based on their speed relative to the wind. We present swell statistics for the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea using 20 years of swell-partitioned model data. The swell significant wave height was mostly under 2 m, and in the winter (DJF) the mean significant swell height was typically less than 0.4 m; higher swell was found in limited nearshore areas. Swell waves were typically short (under 5 s), with mean periods over 8 s being rare. In open-sea areas the average ratio of swell energy (to total energy) was mostly below 0.4 – significantly less than in the World Ocean. Certain coastal areas were swell dominated over half the time, mostly because of weak winds (U<5 m s−1) rather than high swell heights. Swell-dominated events with a swell height over 1 m typically lasted under 10 h. A cross-correlation analysis indicates that swell in the open sea is mostly generated from local wind sea when wind decays (dominant time lag roughly 15 h). Near the coast, however, the results suggest that the swell is partially detached from the local wind waves, although not necessarily from the weather system that generates them because the highest swell typically arrives with a roughly 10 h delay after the low-pressure system has already passed.
Swell
Infragravity wave
Hindcast
Significant wave height
Cite
Citations (12)
Abstract. Swell dominates the global sea state and therefore significantly contributes to processes at the air and seabed interfaces. Nonetheless, smaller enclosed seas are detached from the global swell climate. We present swell statistics for the Baltic Sea using 20 years of swell partitioned model data. The swell significant wave height was mostly under 2 m, and in the winter (DJF) the mean significant swell height was typically less than 0.4 m; higher swell was found at limited nearshore areas. Swell waves were typically short (under 5 s), with mean periods over 8 s being rare. In open-sea areas the average ratio of swell energy (to total energy) was below 0.4 – significantly less than in World Ocean. Certain coastal areas were swell dominated over half the times, mostly because of weak winds (U < 5 ms−1) rather than high swell heights. Swell dominated events with a swell height over 1 m typically lasted under 10 h. A cross-correlation analysis indicates that swell in the open sea is mostly generated from local wind-sea when wind decays (dominant time lag roughly 15 h). Near the coast, however, the results suggests that the swell is partially detached from the local wind-waves, although not necessarily from the weather system that generates them.
Swell
Hindcast
Infragravity wave
Cite
Citations (1)
Abstract. The classic characterisation of swell as regular, almost monochromatic, wave trains does not necessarily accurately describe swell in water bodies shielded from the oceanic wave climate. In such enclosed areas the locally generated swell waves still contribute to processes at the air and seabed interfaces, and their presence can be quantified by partitioning wave components based on their speed relative to the wind. We present swell statistics for the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea using 20 years of swell-partitioned model data. The swell significant wave height was mostly under 2âm, and in the winter (DJF) the mean significant swell height was typically less than 0.4âm; higher swell was found in limited nearshore areas. Swell waves were typically short (under 5âs), with mean periods over 8âs being rare. In open-sea areas the average ratio of swell energy (to total energy) was mostly below 0.4 â significantly less than in the World Ocean. Certain coastal areas were swell dominated over half the time, mostly because of weak winds (U<5âmâsâ1) rather than high swell heights. Swell-dominated events with a swell height over 1âm typically lasted under 10âh. A cross-correlation analysis indicates that swell in the open sea is mostly generated from local wind sea when wind decays (dominant time lag roughly 15âh). Near the coast, however, the results suggest that the swell is partially detached from the local wind waves, although not necessarily from the weather system that generates them because the highest swell typically arrives with a roughly 10âh delay after the low-pressure system has already passed.
Swell
Cite
Citations (0)
Abstract. The classic characterisation of swell as regular, almost monochromatic, wave trains does not necessarily accurately describe swell in water bodies shielded from the oceanic wave climate. In such enclosed areas the locally generated swell waves still contribute to processes at the air and seabed interfaces, and their presence can be quantified by partitioning wave components based on their speed relative to the wind. We present swell statistics for the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea using 20 years of swell-partitioned model data. The swell significant wave height was mostly under 2âm, and in the winter (DJF) the mean significant swell height was typically less than 0.4âm; higher swell was found in limited nearshore areas. Swell waves were typically short (under 5âs), with mean periods over 8âs being rare. In open-sea areas the average ratio of swell energy (to total energy) was mostly below 0.4 â significantly less than in the World Ocean. Certain coastal areas were swell dominated over half the time, mostly because of weak winds (U<5âmâsâ1) rather than high swell heights. Swell-dominated events with a swell height over 1âm typically lasted under 10âh. A cross-correlation analysis indicates that swell in the open sea is mostly generated from local wind sea when wind decays (dominant time lag roughly 15âh). Near the coast, however, the results suggest that the swell is partially detached from the local wind waves, although not necessarily from the weather system that generates them because the highest swell typically arrives with a roughly 10âh delay after the low-pressure system has already passed.
Swell
Significant wave height
Cite
Citations (0)
The wind wave and the swell in the North Pacific Ocean have been visually observed by a voluntary ship on which the composite wave height of wind wave and swell using the micro wave height meter simultaneously measured for more than three years. The composed wave heights from visual data of wind waves and swell are mostly consistent with the measured data. This consistency suggest that the wave height data by visual observation is cosiderably reliable. This report focuses on the character of swell in the North Pacific Ocean. The results of analysis are that (1) the swell always remains in the ocean regardless of wind force at that time, (2) the average height of the swell is 2.7 m and the average period is 8.8 sec, (3) the heights and periods of the swell are mostly larger than thats of the wind wave, (4) the direction of the swell comes to coincide with the main direction of wind in proportion to the wind force, (5) the more the height of swell becomes larger, the more the ship has a tendency to expose her quater side to the swell.
Swell
Infragravity wave
Significant wave height
Wave height
Cite
Citations (0)
Swell can be observed very frequently in the ocean. But little attention has been paid to its contribution to other sea surface phenomena. On the basis of our recent studies, various important phenomena relating to the swell are discussed in this article. Firstly, the change of the swell by turbulent wind is considered. It is shown that the magnitude of the decay rate of the swell by adverse wind is almost the same with that of the growth rate of the swell by following wind. Secondly, the effects of the swell on various sea surface phenomena are discussed. As will be expected, the effects of the swell are negligible unless the swell steepness is large. However, with the increase of the swell steepness, the swell shows interesting effect on sea surface phenomena. The swell propagating against the wind intensifies the growth of wind waves, if the swell steepness is large. This is quite contradictory to the well-known phenomena that the steep swell propagating in the direction of the wind suppresses wind waves. The former phenomenon cannot be explained by the mechanism proposed by Phillips & Banner(1974); it explains only the latter case, even though the mechanism should be applicable to the both phenomena. The similar contradictory effects of the swell are seen in the effects of the swell upon wind-induced drift current. The swell propagating against the wind intensifies the drift current, while the swell propagating in the direction of the wind shows little effect upon the drift current. In spite of the drastic changes of wind waves by the swell, the microwave intensi.ty backscattered from the sea surface is not much affected by the swell. This is probably due to the fact that the swell changes only a dominant part of the wind wave spectnnu and it does not affect the high frequency region of the spectnnu, which mainly governs the Bragg scattering mechanism of the microwaves at wavy surface.
Swell
Cite
Citations (5)