Climatological wave height, wave period and wave power along coastal areas of the East Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Climatological wave height, wave period and wave power along coastal areas of the East Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico
Abstract:
This U.S. Geological Survey data release provides data on spatial variations in climatological wave parameters (significant wave height, peak wave period, and wave power) for coastal areas along the United States East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Significant wave height is the average wave height, from crest to trough, of the highest one-third of the waves in a specific time period. Peak wave period is the wave period associated with the most energetic waves in the wave spectrum in a specific time period. Wave power is the energy per unit length generated by the movement of ocean waves. Climatological wave conditions provide the average forcing that can lead to changes in the coastal environment. For the generation of this dataset, we use model simulations. Waves under different climatological wind forcing conditions averaged from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-5) were simulated using the coupled ADCIRC/SWAN model system. Coastal areas are resolved with horizontal resolutions on the order of hundreds of meters. The ADCIRC/SWAN simulations provide steady-state wave conditions under constant wind at each computational point of an unstructured grid that covers the entire area of interest—from the open ocean to overland areas up to approximately 15 meters above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988. The simulations provide wave height and period and are also used to calculate wave power. We consider the frequency of occurrence of each wind magnitude and direction bin for each location to reconstruct weighted-average wave conditions. The resulting wave parameters are provided at all points of the computational grid less than 10 meter elevation and shallower than -30 meter bottom depth (North American Vertical Datum of 1988). Grid points above 10 meters and deeper than 30 meters are given a fill value.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Aretxabaleta, Alfredo L., Defne, Zafer, Kalra, Tarandeep S., Blanton, Brian O., and Ganju, Neil K., 20220126, Climatological wave height, wave period and wave power along coastal areas of the East Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico: data release DOI:10.5066/P9HJ0JIQ, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Suggested citation: Aretxabaleta A.L., Defne, Z., Kalra, T.S., Blanton B.O. and Ganju, N.K., 2022, Climatological wave height, wave period and wave power along coastal areas of the East Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9HJ0JIQ.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -98.00214
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -54.34012
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 45.83881
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 5.83791
  3. What does it look like?
    https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/61ce0a6dd34ed79293fc874b?name=Climatological_WaveHeight.png (PNG)
    Graphic showing climatological wave height along the US East Coast.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 2022
    Currentness_Reference:
    publication date
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Tabular and vector digital data
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Point data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • Entity point (1636319)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.0198031965. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.0218640971. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal seconds. The horizontal datum used is WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_84.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257223563.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Climatological_WaveHeight_Period_WavePower_HSOFS_ver01.shp Attribute Table
    Attribute information associated with wave parameters (wave height, period and power) for coastal areas along the United States East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. The data are available in shapefile and CSV format. The attributes are the same except the shapefile specific attributes (FID, Shape) are not present in the CSV file. The dataset has 1636319 records. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: Esri) Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: Esri) Coordinates defining the features.
    lon
    Longitude coordinate in decimal degrees, NAD83. Negative value indicates Western hemisphere (Source: USGS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:-98.002143
    Maximum:-54.340122
    Units:decimal degrees longitude
    lat
    Latitude coordinate in decimal degrees, NAD83 (Source: USGS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:5.837913
    Maximum:45.838806
    Units:decimal degrees latitude
    H
    Significant wave height: average wave height, from crest to trough, of the highest one-third of the waves in a specific time period. (Source: USGS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.0
    Maximum:1.607645
    Units:meters
    T
    Peak wave period: the wave period associated with the most energetic waves in the wave spectrum in a specific time period. (Source: USGS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.0
    Maximum:6.431681
    Units:seconds
    P
    Wave power: the energy per unit length generated by the movement of ocean waves (Source: USGS)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.0
    Maximum:7650.718600
    Units:Watts/meter
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    In this dataset, data on climatological wave parameters (significant wave height, peak wave period, and wave power) for coastal areas along the United States East Coast and Gulf of Mexico has been provided. The data includes: significant wave height (the average wave height of the highest one-third of the waves); peak wave period (the wave period associated with the most energetic waves); and wave power (the energy per unit length created by the motion of waves). Climatological wave conditions provide the average conditions that can lead to changes in the coastal environment. In this product, wave parameters are estimated from model simulations. Simulated climatological waves are analyzed and the different wave parameters are calculated and mapped.
    This metadata file has information for one shapefile (Climatological_WaveHeight_Period_WavePower_HSOFS_ver01.shp) and specific attributes are described.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: USGS

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta
    • Zafer Defne
    • Tarandeep S. Kalra
    • Brian O. Blanton
    • Neil K. Ganju
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Alfredo Aretxabaleta
    Oceanographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    US

    508-548-8700 X2204 (voice)
    aaretxabaleta@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

Climatological wave data were created to be used in evaluating the spatial variation of the response and resiliency of coastal environments to wave conditions.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    ERA5_WIND (source 1 of 1)
    European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) copernicus-support@ecmwf.int, 20180614, ERA-5 hourly east-west and north-south wind components at 10 meters height.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1979 to present
    Type_of_Source_Media: Digital
    Source_Contribution:
    The east-west and north-south wind components are combined to produce bins of wind speed and direction
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2020 (process 1 of 5)
    This process step and all subsequent process steps were performed by the same person, Alfredo Aretxabaleta in Matlab (ver. 2016b), unless otherwise stated.
    The latest European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-5, https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era5) model solution was extracted for all areas along the US East Coast and Gulf of Mexico shoreline. The hourly data for the east-west and north-south wind components at 10 m height were downloaded from https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47 on 20 November 2019. Data for the period January 2000 to December 2018 was used for each location. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Alfredo Aretxabaleta
    Oceanographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    US

    508-548-8700 x. 2204 (voice)
    aaretxabaleta@usgs.gov
    Data sources used in this process:
    • ERA5_WIND
    Date: 01-Feb-2021 (process 2 of 5)
    The east-west and north-south wind components are combined to produce wind speed and direction (degrees from True North) using a Matlab code that transforms and rotates vectors from the vector components to magnitude and direction.
    The wind speeds and directions were binned to create a set of wind roses for each coastal location. Wind direction was binned in 12 intervals using 30-degree intervals: Bin 1: -15 (345) to 15 deg N; Bin 2: 15 to 45 deg N; Bin 3: 45 to 75 deg N; Bin 4: 75 to 105 deg N; Bin 5: 105 to 135 deg N; Bin 6: 135 to 165 deg N; Bin 7: 165 to 195 deg N; Bin 8: 195 to 225 deg N; Bin 9: 225 to 255 deg N; Bin 10: 255 to 285 deg N; Bin 11: 285 to 315 deg N; Bin 12: 315 to 345 deg N
    and wind speeds were binned with the following ranges: Bin 1: 0-2 m/s; Bin 2: 2-4 m/s; Bin 3: 4-6 m/s; Bin 4: 6-8 m/s; Bin 5: 8-12 m/s; Bin 6 12-38 m/s
    Date: 01-Feb-2021 (process 3 of 5)
    A matrix of model simulations (72 total simulations) of the ADCIRC/SWAN (version 53.04, https://adcirc.org/home/documentation/users-manual-v53/; Dietrich et al. [2011]) modeling system were conducted with different wind directions (12) and intensities (6). A constant wind for each direction centered on the mid-value (0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, 330 deg N) and with speeds centered at the mid-value of each bin (1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 25 m/s) were imposed for the entire model domain.
    The ADCIRC unstructured mesh is from the Hurricane Surge On-demand Forecast System (HSOFS, https://www.weather.gov/sti/coastalact_surgewg; Moghimi et al. [2020]). HSOFS is an unstructured finite element grid that extends westward to the 65 W longitude and resolves the entire East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. The grid contains 1.8 million grid points resulting in horizontal resolutions as low as 130m with most coastal grid elements being 300-400m in size. The grid extends overland to approximately the 15 m elevation (North American Vertical Datum of 1988, NAVD88).
    The model was run in coupled mode, initialized from rest, and run until steady-state was achieved. The significant wave heights and peak periods were extracted from the end of each simulation.
    Many papers describe the development and usage of the ADCIRC computational model, but basic details can be found in Luettich et al. (1992) and Dietrich et al. (2011).
    References:
    Dietrich, J.C., Zijlema, M., Westerink, J.J., Holthuijsen, L.H., Dawson, C., Luettich Jr, R.A., Jensen, R.E., Smith, J.M., Stelling, G.S. and Stone, G.W., 2011, Modeling hurricane waves and storm surge using integrally-coupled, scalable computations. Coastal Engineering, Vol 58(1), pp.45-65.
    Luettich, R.A., Westerink, J.J., and Scheffner, N.W., 1992, ADCIRC: An Advanced Three-Dimensional Circulation Model for Shelves, Coasts, and Estuaries; Report 1: Theory and Methodology of ADCIRC-2DDI and ADCIRC-3DL; Technical Report CERC-TR-DRP-92-6; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of the Army: Washington, DC, USA.
    Moghimi, S., Van der Westhuysen, A., Abdolali, A., Myers, E., Vinogradov, S., Ma, Z., Liu, F., Mehra, A. and Kurkowski, N., 2020. Development of an ESMF based flexible coupling application of ADCIRC and WAVEWATCH III for high fidelity coastal inundation studies. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Vol. 8(5), p.308. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Alfredo Aretxabaleta
    Oceanographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    US

    508-548-8700 x. 2204 (voice)
    aaretxabaleta@usgs.gov
    Date: 03-Jul-2021 (process 4 of 5)
    This process step was performed in Matlab (ver. 2016b).
    The climatological wave parameters were calculated as the weighted average of the wave conditions. The weights for each location were extracted from the wind distribution of directions and magnitudes from the climatological wind roses from the ERA5 wind dataset.
    The model solutions provided significant wave height and peak wave period. Wave power is a function of wave height and period and it was calculated using the expression:
    P = ρ*g^2/(64*pi) * H^2 * T where ρ is the density of water, g is the acceleration due to gravity, H is the significant wave height, and T is the peak period.
    Date: 24-Aug-2021 (process 5 of 5)
    To produce the final dataset, data for grid points for the ADCIRC HSOFS grid above 10 meters elevation (NAVD88) and deeper than -30 meters bottom depth (NADV88) are replaced with a fill value to exclude areas not in the coastal area. Therefore, the resulting wave parameters are provided at all points of the computational grid less than 10 meter and shallower than -30 meter bottom depth (NAVD88).
    In Matlab (v2016b), the function dlmwrite.m was used to export the data to CSV format. The shapefile was created in ArcMap (ver. 10.7.1) by Zafer Defne from the CSV file using the XY Table to Point Tool, no Z Field was used.
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    The wave parameter values represent model conditions simulated for a domain that includes the entire East Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico. Climatological wind conditions used as forcing could have inaccuracies due to resolution restrictions and physical processes misrepresentations. We take the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-5) simulations as our best guess for the climatological conditions in the area. The accuracy of the wave model simulations is also limited by resolution and the choice of physical parameters. The model parameters were chosen following the expert opinion of the modeling group that conducts forecast simulations for the East Coast of the United States on the same unstructured grid. Finally, a visual comparison between the current wave analysis data and published results of wave conditions was conducted to qualitatively assure accuracy.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    The horizontal accuracy is inherited from the source model grid (ADCIRC grid HSOFS). During the process of grid development by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) modeling team (https://www.weather.gov/sti/coastalact_surgewg), several quality checks were performed including a visual comparison between grid elevations and the original maps or data. According to NOAA development team, the grid satisfied NOAA and industry standards.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Wave parameters should not be extrapolated into areas with oceanographic characteristics different from the reference points. A detailed on-the-ground analysis of a single site may result in different wave parameters than established through this analysis.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    The data provided matches the wave source information and falls within the expected ranges for wave parameters. The geospatial data were checked for integrity during the data field creation process and the model points were checked to ensure they match available horizontal datums. Possible data duplicates have been checked and eliminated.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints None
Use_Constraints These data are defined for scientific research purposes and should not be used as a sole source of reference for any regulations and policy making. Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey as the source of this information.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
    Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
    Denver, CO
    United States

    1-888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? The dataset consists of one shapefile: Climatological_WaveHeight_Period_WavePower_HSOFS_ver01.shp and associated files. Additionally, there is one browse graphic file (Climatological_WaveHeight.png) and FGDC CSDGM metadata in XML format (Climatological_Wave_Height_Period_Power_HSOFS.xml).
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. The USGS or the U.S. Government shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Not for navigational use.
  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 26-Jan-2022
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey
Attn: Alfredo Aretxabaleta
Oceanographer
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, MA
US

508-548-8700 x. 2204 (voice)
aaretxabaleta@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/whcmsc/SB_data_release/DR_P9HJ0JIQ/Climatological_Wave_Height_Period_Power_HSOFS.faq.html>
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