IFYGL SHIPBOARD VISUAL WAVE OBSERVATIONS VS. WAVE MEASUREMENTS

Shipboard meteorological observations, which include visual estimates of wave height and wave period, are made in the Great Lakes by over 100 ships from the United States and Canada. Data collected from these ship reports cover a wide range of lake conditions and hence provide a useful basis for climatological studies of surface waves in the Great Lakes. The objective of this paper is to present an assessment of the reliability of these ship reports. Records from deep water wave gauges were compared with shipboard observations made within 50 km of the gauges. The results show that visually estimated wave heights, and wave periods are correlated with the recorded significant wave heights and average zero-crossing wave periods. Visual observations appear to substantially underestimate the steepness of the waves. Long-term distributions for wave heights and wave periods follow the log-normal distribution quite closely. These results are generally similar to those of oceanic studies.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • From the proceedings of the International Association for Great Lakes Research.
• Corporate Authors:

  State University College

  1300 Elmwood Avenue
  Buffalo, NY  United States  14222
• Authors:
  • Liu, P C
  • Kessenich, T A
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 33-42
• Serial:
  • Journal of Great Lakes Research
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: State University College

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Meteorology; Reports; Wave height; Wave measurement
• Geographic Terms: Great Lakes
• Old TRIS Terms: Meteorological reports
• Subject Areas: Design; Geotechnology; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00163093
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 29 1977 12:00AM