Last century changes in ocean wind wave height from global visual wave data

Abstract

Centennial time series of visually observed wave height were derived from the International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set along the major ship routes in the World Ocean and homogenized. They demonstrate positive trends in significant wave height over the North Pacific with a maximum of 8-10 cm/decade in the northeast Pacific. In the North Atlantic and other basins significant upward changes (up to 14 cm/decade) are observed only for the last 50 years and not for centennial records. Long-term changes in wind wave height are closely associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation in the Atlantic and with North Pacific Oscillation and El-Niño-Southern Oscillation in the Pacific. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.