Wind Waves

Abstract

Wind-generated waves dominate sea surface motions for periods shorter than 300 seconds. Waves are of interest for many applications ranging from navigation safety to ocean and coastal engineering. Waves also define air-sea fluxes and have important interactions with surface currents, upper ocean turbulence, and sea ice. Given the general focus of this book, we emphasize here the successes of wave forecasting methods, starting with a review of basic principles and how wave energy and momentum are modeled. In particular, we discuss the connection between wave modeling and remote sensing, and opportunities for joint measurements of currents and waves. A more detailed account of wave research and applications to geosciences can be found in Ardhuin (2018).