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WAVEWATCH III Validation

The content provided on this page supports model development. These are not official NWS products and should not be relied upon for operational purposes. This web site is not subject to 24/7 support, and thus may be unavailable during system outages.

Operationally generated graphics of the wave fields (no spectra or source terms) are available from Model Analyses and Guidance.

Bulletin files are available from the Production FTP/HTTPS server. Look for gfs.YYYYMMDD/CC/wave/station/bulls.tCCz/gfswave.stationID.bull


3-year rolling validation results for wave heights

Ocean buoy observations are separated into geographical regions and compared to model output from the same locations and times for the last three years.

For the hindcast, a BA analysis is performed to estimate biases and random errors as a function of the wave heights, and the distribution of observed and modeled wave heights is produced. For forecasts, only bulk statistics are presented.

Data Wave Heights Winds
Region Global NE Atl Cent Atl NW Atl NE Pac Gulf Mex Carib Hawaii Alaska   All
Fcst Hindcast 24H 48H 72H 96H 120H  
Analysis
BIAS


large image

Notes and Comments on wave heights validation