CoAuthors

Francois SCHMITT (CNRS, Univ. Lille, Univ. Littoral Cote d’Opale, UMR 8187, LOG, Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, F 62930 Wimereux, France, France); Jianyu HU (State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China, China); Yongxiang HUANG (State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China, China)

The global ocean surface wave height field is usually estimated from the along-track altimetry missions from space. In such framework, the data are spatially limited in one dimension along each satellite trajectory. In this work, a generalized local wind wave power-law relation is developed. Based on this relation, we predict the significant wave height field by using the China-France Oceanography Satellite (CFOSAT) Scatterometer (SCAT) observed wind field. The model predicted wave field has the same spatial resolution as the one of the wind field, e.g., a 1,000 km width of swath with a spatial resolution of 12.5 km. The wave field generated by our model is then compared with the along-track wave height provided by the Surface Waves Investigation and Monitoring instrument (SWIM). We obtain a good agreement for moderate wind conditions, i.e. for U10<12 m/s. However, partially due to the underestimation for the high wind speeds, the model wave height is generally smaller than the SWIM observed values. This systematical bias could be corrected by checking the U10-dependent discrepancy; or, as a perspective, by using machine learning algorithms.