ESTIMATING HIGH WAVES GENERATED BY RECENT STRONG TYPHOONS IN THE EAST CHINA SEA

Abstract

 A wave hindcasting system, which consists of the JMA(Japan Meteorological Agency)-provided MSM(Meso Scale Model) winds data sets and the third generation model SWAN, is applied to estimate wave conditions generated by the recent powerful typhoons such as T1102 and T1216 in the East China Sea connecting to the Pacific Ocean. The following results are obtained: 1) The MSM wind speed data is generally in reasonable agreement with the measurement data at each of 14 lighthouses located along the islands in the East China Sea, although the former tends to give 10 to 20 % greater value than the latter. The wind direction data is in close agreement with the measurement data at each lighthouse. 2) The SWAN model yields satisfactory estimates for wave heights at each of the coastal stations deployed along the islands but slightly less satisfactory estimates for wave periods. 3) Estimates of strong typhoon-generated wave heights depend significantly on the use of a drag coefficient formula or a wave growth formula.