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Ocean wave conditions in the Chukchi Sea from satellite and in situ observations
Author(s) -
Francis Oceana P.,
Panteleev Gleb G.,
Atkinson David E.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl049839
Subject(s) - geology , satellite , arctic , sea ice , oceanography , significant wave height , shore , groenlandia , climatology , the arctic , wind wave , ice sheet , aerospace engineering , engineering
In situ observation of significant wave heights (SWHs) conducted from three fixed bottom‐mounted Recording Doppler Current Profiler (RDCP) instruments in the south‐eastern Chukchi Sea in 2007 and 2009 were compared with corresponding satellite observations from Envisat. A strong correlation (0.96) was indicated between satellite and in situ observations for the off‐shore RDCP located approximately 82 km to the nearest coastline in the region with uniform topography. However, the corresponding cross‐correlations are much lower (0.79 and 0.58) for the RDCPs located within 3.5 km and 10.8 km, respectively, of the nearest coastline probably due to a strong spatial topography gradient and an insufficient number of satellite data points for validation. Cross‐validated satellite observations were used for the analysis of wave conditions in the Arctic during the years 1993–2011. We found approximately a 0.020 m/year increase of SWH for the SE Chukchi Sea and a 0.025 m/year increase for the Pacific‐Arctic, which correlates well with gradual ice retreat observed in the Arctic during the last two decades.