A 30-year wave climatology has been generated with the NOAA WAVEWATCH III® using the
Ardhuin et al (2010) physics package, 16 regular lat-lon grids, and
the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis and Reforecast (CFSRR)
homogeneous dataset of hourly high-resolution winds.  The time period
covers from 1979 through 2009.

The hindcast model was set up as following:

Propagation scheme: Higher-order schemes with Tolman (2002a) averaging technique (PR3).
Linear input: Cavaleri and Malanotte-Rizzoli with filter (LN1).
Nonlinear interactions: Discrete interaction approximation (NL1).
Bottom friction: JONSWAP bottom friction formulation (BT1).
Depth induced breaking: Battjes-Janssen (DB1)
Use Miche-style shallow water limiter in equation for maximum wave energy (MLIM)

The model was run with the Ardhuin et al (2010) source term package
(ST4) which includes the flux computation in the sources (FLX0, STAB0).
Additionally, the model uses a third order propagation scheme (UQ),
with no damping or scattering by sea ice (IC0, IS0), and no reflection
(REF0).


Model grids
--------------------------------

The wave model suite consists of global and regional nested grids,
with depths from the ETOPO-1 bathymetry. Longitudes are in 0-360.

'Global 30 min grid'
glo_30m: Nx=720, Ny=361, dx=1/2, dy=1/2, lon0=0, lat0=-90.0 

'Arctic Ocean curvilinear grid'


'Gulf of America and NW Atlantic 10 min grid'
ecg_10m:  Nx=301, Ny=331, dx=1/6, dy=1/6, lon0=260, lat0=0.0

'US West Coast 10 min grid'
wc_10m:  Nx=241, Ny=151, dx=1/6, dy=1/6, lon0=210, lat0=25

'Pacific Islands 10 min grid'
pi_10m:  Nx=511, Ny=301, dx=1/6, dy=1/6, lon0=130, lat0=-20

'Alaskan 10 min grid'
ak_10m:  Nx=401, Ny=187, dx=1.5/6, dy=1/6, lon0=140, lat0=44

'North Sea Baltic 10 min grid'
nsb_10m: Nx=237; Ny=157; dx=3/12; dy=2/12; lat0=42; lon0=-28;

'Mediterranean 10 min grid'
med_10m: Nx=301; Ny=109; dx=1/6; dy=1/6; lat0=30; lon0=-7;

'North West Indian Ocean 10 min grid'
nwio_10m: Nx=241; Ny=307; dx=1/6; dy=1/6; lat0=-20; lon0=30;

'Australia 10 min grid'
oz_10m: Nx=361; Ny=301; dx=1/6; dy=1/6; lat0=-50; lon0=105;

'Gulf of America and NW Atlantic 4 min grid'
ecg_4m:   Nx=586, Ny=481, dx=1/15, dy=1/15, lon0=261, lat0=15

'US West Coast 4 min grid'
wc_4m:   Nx=736, Ny=526, dx=1/15, dy=1/15, lon0=195, lat0=15

'Alaskan 4 min grid'
ak_4m:   Nx=548, Ny=391, dx=2/15, dy=1/15, lon0=165, lat0=48

'North Sea Baltic 4 min grid'
nsb_4m: Nx=443; Ny=391; dx=2/15; dy=1/15; lat0=42; lon0=-28;

'Australia 4 min grid'
oz_4m: Nx=901; Ny=751; dx=1/15; dy=1/15; lat0=-50; lon0=105;


Model input
-----------

- High resolution 10m global winds from the NCEP Climate Forecast
System Reanalysis (CFSR) - a coupled reanalysis of the atmospheric,
oceanic, sea-ice, and land data - were used for this study.  A
bias-correction based on collocated altimeter data was implemented to
reduce the bias in the strongest winds, especially over the Southern
Ocean. The wind fields used are 1/2 degree resolution at 1 hour
intervals.

- Hourly air-sea temperature difference with 1/2 degree spatial
resolution, also from the CFSRR.

- Ice concentrations are obtained from passive microwave sea ice
concentration from the SMMR and SSMI, using the NCEP high resolution
algorithm based on NASA Team2.  The ice fields used are daily with 1/2
degree resolution.

Model output 
------------

- Field output in grib2 format, available hourly
WND = 10m wind-speed (m/s)
HS = significant wave height (m)
FP = mean wave period (s)
DP = mean wave direction (degrees, oceanographical convention)

- Partition output in NetCDF format
 These provide bulk spectral estimates for each wave system.  
 Available hourly for each individual grid.

- Point output
 Hourly spectra, bulk parameters, and partition data is saved at over
2000 points (buoy locations and virtual locations).


Technical notes (PDF)
---------------------
An initial look at the CFSR Reanalysis winds for wave modeling
 
 WAVEWATCH III® Hindcasts with Re-analysis winds. Initial report on
model setup

 30 Year Wave Hindcasts using WAVEWATCH III® with CFSR winds: Phase 1 
 
Help and hints
---------------

There is a problem extracting data from the Mediterranean GRiB files,
where the longitude values are incorrect. Here is an example Python
script to work around the problem.