Measured and Modelled Wave

Climates of South-Eastern Australia

Ian Coghlan & Bill Peirson WRL, UNSW
Russel Morison & Michael Banner Maths, UNSW
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052.
 Wave Measurement Records

18 long term datasets recorded in 15 to 100 m water depth from

around the Australian coastline.
Queensland
New South Wales
Victoria
Tasmania
South Australia
Western Australia
Northern Territory
 Wave Measurement Records

18 long term datasets recorded in 15 to 100 m water depth from

around the Australian coastline.
 National Wave Climatology
Mean HS (m) over all NWW3 data
Hemer et al 2007
A tongue of increased
HS was observed
extending into the
Tasman Sea for all of the
datasets examined

The maximum of this

tongue is located 2/3rds
the way from the NSW
coast to New Zealand
 NSW Wave
H (m) Statistics (Shand et al, 2010)
Buoy Statistics
S
Distance
10% Depth Capture Length (
Location Mean Median 1% Exc. Max. Location Offshore
Exc. (m) Rate (%) years)
(km)

Byron Bay 1.66 1.50 2.59 3.93 7.64 Byron Bay 62 6.0 73.1 33.2

Coffs Harbour 1.58 1.43 2.44 3.85 7.37 Coffs Harbour 72 12.4 84.7 33.6

Crowdy Head 1.61 1.46 2.48 3.94 7.35 Crowdy Head 79 10.3 85.6 24.3

Sydney 1.63 1.46 2.55 4.19 8.43 Sydney 92 9.5 84.5 22.5

Port Kembla 1.58 1.43 2.47 3.94 8.43 Port Kembla 80 10.4 85.1 35.9

Batemans Bay 1.43 1.30 2.22 3.57 7.19 Batemans Bay 73 5.0 89.7 23.6

Eden 1.64 1.52 2.43 3.93 7.14 Eden 100 12.8 83.5 31.9
 Web-Marvl:
https://portal.marvl.org.au/
 http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/wavewatch/license.shtml
WAVEWATCH III 2009 National Weather Service (NWS), National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, all rights reserved. WAVEWATCH
III is a trademark of the NWS. No unauthorized use without permission.

N
t
[(

) ]c N c N S
+ x c g + U N + + = tot


, N = E ( , )

Stot = Sin + S wc + S nl 4 + Sbot + Sbrk + S nl 3 + S xx

NCEP / NWS supported Community model: Current Release version 4.18

New grids, new numeric, new physics
Improved computer performance, Improved MPI Performance.
2 way nested rectangular grids, curvilinear grids, (lambert conformal, polar
stereographic etc) and unstructured grids (triangular grids).
New Physics packages, new Sin , Snl, and Sds source terms available.
WaveWatch III Pacific Ocean Domain
SE Australia Domain
Sydney Buoy: Significant Wave Height
Sydney Buoy : Peak Period
Coffs Harbour Significant Wave height
Coffs Harbour Peak Period
 SWAN
SWAN is a third-generation wave model, developed at Delft University of Technology, that
computes random, short-crested wind-generated waves in coastal regions and inland waters
SWAN accounts for the following physics:
Wave propagation in time and space, shoaling, refraction due to current and depth,
frequency shifting due to currents and non-stationary depth.
Wave generation by wind. Three- and four-wave interactions.
Whitecapping, bottom friction and depth-induced breaking.
Dissipation due to aquatic vegetation, turbulent flow and viscous fluid mud.
Wave-induced set-up. Diffraction
Propagation from laboratory up to global scales.
Transmission through and reflection (specular and diffuse) against obstacles.

http://swanmodel.sourceforge.net/
Swan Bathymetry: 2 domains
SWAN Model Parameters
Bathymetry: MARVL .vs. OEH
Swan : Time series: Marvl & OEH
Sydney Buoy: Swan: MARVL- NCEP winds
Significant Wave Height Time Series
 Sydney Buoy: Swan OEH
Significant Wave Height Time Series
Sydney Buoy: SWAN-MARVL-ACCESS
Modelled .vs. Observed Wave Height
 Sydney Buoy: SWAN-MARVL-NCEP
Modelled .vs. Observed Wave Height
 Sydney Buoy: SWAN-OEH
Modelled .vs. Observed Wave Height
Coffs Harbour buoy: SWAN-MARVL-ACCESS
Significant Wave Height Time Series
Coffs Harbour buoy: SWAN-MARVL-NCEP
Significant Wave Height Time Series
 Coffs Harbour buoy: SWAN-OEH
Significant Wave Height Time Series
 Coffs Harbour buoy: HF-RADAR
Significant Wave Height Time Series
Coffs SWAN MARVL (ACCESS / NCEP)
Observed .vs. Modelled Wave Height
 Coffs SWAN-OEH / HF-RADAR
Observed .vs. Modelled Wave Height
Coffs Harbour BIAS / RMSE .vs. Height
 Conclusions.
Not Enough Wave Data collected in Australian waters.
No national buoy storage facility: (IMOS ?)
Web_Marvl : great new way of helping researchers
get the data to run models. Still need to know what
you are doing.
SWAN & WWIII available in Web Marvl.
SWAN & WWIII source codes freely available.
Both do well forecasting waves, and work best
combined when looking in shallow coastal zones.