Atlas of global wave energy from 10 years of reanalysis and hindcast data

Randi A. Arinaga and Kwok Fai Cheung

Renewable Energy, 2012, vol. 39, issue 1, 49-64

Abstract: Development of ocean wave energy requires general knowledge of the wave climate as well as reliable estimates of the available power. A WAVEWATCH III hindcast study with surface winds from the Final Global Tropospheric Analysis (FNL) provides 10 years of spectral wave data for a thorough examination of the wave resource around the world. The fully assimilated FNL data provides accurate wind input for more reliable predictions of the wave conditions than the operational forecasts. The computed wave parameters show good correlation with Jason-1 altimetry and buoy measurements. The monthly median plots describe the seasonal variation of the global wave climate and the percentile plots indicate the persistence and severity of the wave conditions. Separate estimates of the power from the wind waves and primary swell provide a precise description of the resource in support of design and planning of wave energy converters.

Keywords: Spectral models; Swell; Wave energy; Wave power; Wave atlas; Wind waves (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (105)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148111003764
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:39:y:2012:i:1:p:49-64

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2011.06.039

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().