Some Problems in the Development of the National Coastal Waves Program

Abstract

This paper describes several problems and solutions which resulted from planning the NOAA National Coastal Wave Program. Although Waverider buoys are well accepted for measurements, standard Waveriders are too limited in range and were found to have too much RF interference for a long term network. These two problems can be overcome by using buoys which have satellite communications. In earlier models of Waveriders, aging caused a low bias in height measurements. Routine calibration is thus necessary although it was not generally used in the past. Phase shifts in Waverider data limit its use in zero- crossing, wave shape, groupiness, or similar types of analyses. Uncertainties in wave measurements cause extremal wave height statistics to have a high bias and wide confidence intervals. These problems are aggravated by short record lengths.