Intensity and duration of sea storms off the Californian coast

Abstract

Based on the equivalent triangular storm (ETS) model, Boccotti (2000) obtained the analytical solutions for the return period of a sea storm in which the maximum significant wave height exceeds a fixed threshold, and for the mean persistence of the significant wave height above a fixed threshold. In this paper these analytical solutions have been particularized assuming the three parameters Weibull distribution for the significant wave height and the exponential regression base-height of the ETS; the latter distributions have been estimated by using the data of some NOAA buoys moored off the Californian coast. In particular the directional distribution of the significant wave height has been obtained in order to predict the intensity of severest sea storms for fixed wave directions. Finally, the prediction based on the ETS model has been compared to the prediction obtained by applying the total sample method.