Wind and sea at coastal stations and the effects of the angle between wind and shore

✍ Scribed by Donald L. Champion

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1946
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 320 KB
• Volume: 72
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9009
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.49707231220

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The normal relations between wind force and sea disturbance in the open sea are set out with some precision in the Admiralty Weather Manual, where it is given that the fetch in miles required to produce waves in accordance with the sea disturbance table is probably of the nature of W^6^/500 and that the minimum depth of water required is W^3^/10 fathoms, where W is the wind force on the Beaufort scale.

The complications which arise when waves near the coast, owing to variations of fetch, depth of water, tidal streams, river currents, etc., are such that that the formulá connecting sea disturbance and wind in the open sea are no longer applicable.

In this note, based on some 17,000 observations published from coastal stations in the Daily Weather Report and from ships in Hebridean seas during the three years September 1936 to 1939, an attempt has been made to ascertain the variations of sea disturbance relative to the angle between the wind and shore.