Wave Statistics for the Middle Adriatic Sea

Abstract

The paper presents the methodology and results of the sea state statistics development for the middle Adriatic Sea. The study is based on the World Waves Atlas containing data of sea states in the Adriatic Sea calibrated using different satellite missions and numerical wave model simulations during the period of past 23 years. Wave scatter diagram and wave rose at the location in the middle Adriatic Sea are derived from the data. The 3-parametric Weibull distribution and the log-normal distribution for significant wave height and peak spectral periods respectively, are fitted through the data in the World Waves Atlas. Based on available data, the relation between wind speed and wave height is established by regression analysis. Comparison of the relationship between the significant wave height and peak spectral period is performed between the data from the World Waves Atlas and the Tabain’s wave spectrum, frequently used for sea states in the Adriatic Sea. Finally, the most probable extreme sea states for different return periods are calculated and results are compared with another relevant study for the long-term prediction of sea states in the Adriatic Sea.