Wave Pressure Gauge Analysis with Current
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 6
Abstract
Bottom-mounted pressure gauges are used to measure waves in coastal inlets, where tidal currents are significant. Theoretically, neglect of the current in analysis of pressure data can lead to order-one errors in wave height estimates. Wave height is overestimated by neglecting flood current and underestimated by neglecting ebb current. A collocated wave buoy and bottom-mounted pressure gauge were deployed at Willapa Bay, Washington, to evaluate the significance of including current in pressure data analysis. Wave heights were overestimated by up to 20% if current was neglected. Larger current-induced errors in wave height were prevented by truncation of high-frequency energy to exclude pressure system noise. Truncation of the spectra leads to overestimates of mean wave period and underestimates of wave height. Adding a theoretical tail to the spectra reduces truncation errors. If current measurements are not available for pressure gauge analysis, reasonable results can be achieved by applying a conservative high-frequency cutoff and adding a theoretical tail.
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Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 6 • November 2002
Pages: 271 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 3, 2000
Accepted: Mar 19, 2002
Published online: Oct 15, 2002
Published in print: Nov 2002
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