Structured design of Australia’s in situ wave observing network

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work revisits and extends an analysis of the Australian wave observing network. The method is based on calculating correlations between modelled wave variables at observation sites and the Australian coastal domain and identifying areas of low correlation. This gives an indication of the areas where variability of the wave fields is poorly captured by existing observation locations, i.e. the network gaps. It is found that the gaps in the network that had been identified in previous work are to a large part reduced by the recent deployment of new infrastructure, but not eliminated. It is also found that the network does less well at observing the synoptic scale wave field than it does at observing the monthly wave climate. Lagged correlations are also considered but found to have only a modest impact on the ability of the network to observe the wave field variability.