Wave Parameter Retrieval And Application Using The Ocean Wave Spectrometer Data

Ocean wave is a complicated phenomenon which people are familiar with. Theresearch of ocean wave is important for oceanographic engineering, shipping, fishingand the sea-water aquiculture. The directional wave spectrum which is used fordescribing the inner wave energy distribution of frequency and direction is a keyconcept in the research of ocean wave. As a new remote sensor developed specializedfor ocean wave spectra detecting, the development of ocean wave spectrometer fillsthe gap of the observation of ocean wave. Ocean wave spectrometer is a real apertureradar using short pulse, conical-scanning beam at small incidence angle. The smallestwave length can be detected by the ocean wave spectrometer is about30-40m. Theprinciple of measurement is based on the modulation of the backscatteringcross-section by the slopes of sea surface due to long waves, and the beam scanning360°in the azimuth direction to obtain the directional information of waves.In this paper, the inversion process of wind and wave field based on the airbornedual-polarization ocean wave spectrometer－STORM data are analyzed. Spectraobtained from STORM, SWAN model outputs and data from buoy measurement arecompared, the compared results reveal that for a very small significant wave heightcase, the modulation due to long waves is too weak, i.e. the signal is too weak and theSNR is too small, this will result in the inaccuracy of the modulation spectrum.Besides, whether the character of multi-peak of the wave affects the accuracy of thespectra detected by the ocean wave spectrometer needs further study.Ocean wave is the key factor of the forming of ocean surface mixed layer and thethermocline. Not taking the changing of energy in ocean surface mixed layer due toeddy mixture of ocean wave into account is one of the very important reasons thatocean surface mixed layer and the thermocline can’t be simulated well in the oceancirculation model we used now. The estimate algorithm of wave-induced mixing and the input energy in the upper ocean based on the ocean wave spectrometer data isdiscussed in this paper.Air-sea interaction has a strong impact on the upper ocean and the structure ofatmospheric bottom boundary layer. The air-sea flux reflects the relationship andfeedback mechanism between ocean and atmosphere, which has great value towave-circulation coupled model, forecast of wave and current on the surface of theocean. The estimate algorithm of air-sea flux is analyzed, the significant wave height,significant period and wave length of the dominant wave calculated from the oceanwave spectrometer spectra are used in the air-sea fluxes parameterization scheme,instead of wave parameters calculated from empirical equation using wind speed.