Significant Wave Height and Direction

Significant wave height is a spectrally derived time-series, which is the average of the highest third of the waves in a random seaway and roughly corresponds to the mean wave height. Values are in meters. Data represent monthly summaries for the time period from January 1980 to December 2009 and include the parameters; significant wave height (ssh), wave energy period (wep), and wave hindcast direction (dfp).

To support ocean planning activities pursuant to the Executive Order Regarding the Ocean Policy to Advance the Economic, Security, and Environmental Interests of the United States, the Energy Policy Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act.

The Wave Energy Resource Assessment project is a joint venture between NREL and Virginia Tech. NREL is the prime contractor and Virginia Tech is responsible for development of the models and estimating the wave resource. NREL also serves as an independent validator and also develops the final GIS-based display of the data.

A note about the data: Bathymetric effects are known to have a large effect on wave characteristics at depths shallower than approximately 20m (\~65 feet) on the Atlantic coast and 50 m (\~160 feet) on the Pacific coast. A variance between depths exists due to the feature differences for each continental shelf. The methodology used in this resource assessment precludes providing site-specific information to such developers. Reliable site-specific information in shallow waters can only be produced using results from models with higher spatial resolution that include shallow-water physics. The wave resource assessment group acknowledges that its results will not be accurate in the shallower waters of the inner continental shelf.

Bureau Code: 006:48, Program Code: 006:055