Ocean bottom pressure records from the Cascadia array and short surface gravity waves

Type Article
Date 2016-05
Language English
Author(s) Peureux Charles1, Ardhuin FabriceORCID2
Affiliation(s) 1 : UMR6523 CNRS Ifremer UBO IRD, Lab Oceanog Phys & Spatiale, Plouzane, France.
Source Journal Of Geophysical Research-oceans (2169-9275) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2016-05 , Vol. 121 , N. 5 , P. 2862-2873
DOI 10.1002/2015JC011580
WOS© Times Cited 10
Abstract The ocean bottom pressure records from eight stations of the Cascadia array are used to investigate the properties of short surface gravity waves with frequencies ranging from 0.2 to 5 Hz. It is found that the pressure spectrum at all sites is a well-defined function of the wind speed U10 and frequency f, with only a minor shift of a few dB from one site to another that can be attributed to variations in bottom properties. This observation can be combined with the theoretical prediction that the ocean bottom pressure spectrum is proportional to the surface gravity wave spectrum E(f) squared, times the overlap integral I(f) which is given by the directional wave spectrum at each frequency. This combination, using E(f) estimated from modeled spectra or parametric spectra, yields an overlap integral I(f) that is a function of the local wave age inline image. This function is maximum for f∕fPM = 8 and decreases by 10 dB for f∕fPM = 2 and f∕fPM = 30. This shape of I(f) can be interpreted as a maximum width of the directional wave spectrum at f∕fPM = 8, possibly equivalent to an isotropic directional spectrum, and a narrower directional distribution toward both the dominant low frequencies and the higher capillary-gravity wave frequencies.
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