Research on the methods for separating wind sea and swell from directional wave spectra in finite-depth waters

Abstract

Ocean waves are generally a mix of wind sea and swell. Given the significant disparities in their impact on engineering, the separation of wind sea and swell is of great significance for marine research and engineering applications. This work focuses on studying the methods for separating wind sea and swell from directional wave spectra in finite-depth waters (i.e., the south coast of Sri Lanka). The error caused by deep-water dispersion relationship in the identification of wind sea using wave age (WA) criterion in finite-depth waters is revealed. The magnitude of error increases with decreasing water depth and higher wind speeds. Subsequently, the impact of WA thresholds on the partitioned results of wind sea and swell is examined, followed by a summary on the procedure determining an appropriate WA threshold. Finally, effort is devoted to studying the overshoot phenomenon (OP) criterion, which does not rely on wind data. Overall, the OP criterion performs consistently with the WA criterion. However, the generation and dissipation of OP require some time. Therefore, the OP criterion exhibits a lag in capturing the growing wind sea as well as the transition of the wind sea to a young swell. Misclassification of wind sea by the OP criterion further contaminates the bulk parameters of swell. Moreover, when the wind direction changes slowly, the delays of OP-based wind sea become negligible, leading to improved identification of wind sea and swell.