In:
Coastal Engineering Proceedings, Coastal Engineering Research Council, , No. 19 ( 1984-01-29), p. 39-
Abstract:
Waves with exceptional height and periods caused severe damage along the coast of California in 1982-83. Because these large wave events coincided with a strong El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climatic anomaly, which occurs 20-25 times per century, there was interest in determining if the extreme waves resulted from the ENSO or its related features. The meteorological setting featured a very large and intense low pressure zone over the north-central Pacific. Associated with this Pacific-wide pattern, a series of large mid-latitude storms developed at about weekly intervals and produced exceptionally long fetchs directed at the California Coast. Two time series of extreme wave events, using buoy data after 1981 and hindcasts before, were used covering the period from 1900 to 1984. One series considered waves with significant heights greater than 3 m (10 ft) and the second for those greater than 6 m (20 ft.) These were compared with a time history of ENSOs for the same period. A strong association was established between northern hemisphere winters during ENSO years and large wave events in Southern California. Strong ENSO winters had the largest storm waves, moderate ENSOs less intense waves, and weak ENSOs tended not to have storm waves greater than the threshold value used in this study. The correlation between large waves and ENSO years is significant at the 1% level. The correlation between lack of large waves and non-ENSO years is significant at the 0.5% level. Because of the great southerly extent of the most energetic storms, a large number of energetic wave trains approach the coast from the west, rather than the northwest, as previously assumed by many. ENSO winters are responsible for producing all of the wave events in this study with both heights greater than 6 m and periods of peak energy longer than 19 seconds. Five out of nine eastern Pacific tropical storms making landfalls on California in the 85 year period occurred during the late northern summer of ENSO years.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2156-1028
,
0589-087X
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
Coastal Engineering Research Council
Publication Date:
1984
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2628774-2
