Sea Waves Generated by Extratropical Cyclones in the South Atlantic Ocean: Hindcast and Validation against Altimeter Data

By R. P. Rocha, Shigetoshi Sugahara, Reinaldo B. da Silveira. 2004

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Abstract This work presents analyses of the atmospheric conditions and the hindcast of the surface wave field when six extratropical cyclones formed and displaced over the South Atlantic Ocean (10°N, 60°S; 75°W, 15°E) between April and September 1999. These events caused high sea waves associated with hazardous conditions along the south and southeast coast of Brazil. The meteorological composite fields for these cyclones show a strong near- surface wind velocity (up to 14 m s−1) during its mature phase. The sea-state wave hindcast was obtained using a third-generation wave model forced by the 10-m above ground level wind field from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis dataset. Closer to the south and southeast Brazilian coast, the hindcast results showed significant wave heights of up to 5 m in some of the events. The wave hindcast results for the significant wave height were compared against satellite altimeter data at 6 h intervals. The s...

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Earth-Surface Processes, Oceanography

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