Brazilian offshore wave climate based on NWW3 reanalysis

Pianca, Cássia; Mazzini, Piero Luigi F.; Siegle, Eduardo

Abstracts

This paper provides a description of the wave climate off the Brazilian coast based on an eleven-year time series (Jan/1997-Dec/2007) obtained from the NWW3 operational model hindcast reanalysis. Information about wave climate in Brazilian waters is very scarce and mainly based on occasional short-term observations, the present analysis being the first covering such temporal and spatial scales. To define the wave climate, six sectors were defined and analyzed along the Brazilian shelf-break: South (W1), Southeast (W2), Central (W3), East (W4), Northeast (W5) and North (W6). W1, W2 and W3 wave regimes are determined by the South Atlantic High (SAH) and the passage of synoptic cold fronts; W4, W5 and W6 are controlled by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and its meridional oscillation. The most energetic waves are from the S, generated by the strong winds associated to the passage of cold fronts, which mainly affect the southern region. Wave power presents a decrease in energy levels from south to north, with its annual variation showing that the winter months are the most energetic in W1 to W4, while in W5 and W6 the most energetic conditions occur during the austral summer. The information presented here provides boundary conditions for studies related to coastal processes, fundamental for a better understanding of the Brazilian coastal zone.

sea state; waves; Brazilian Coast; WaveWatch III

O presente trabalho apresenta o clima de ondas da região ao largo da costa brasileira com base em uma série temporal de onze anos (Jan/1997-Dez/2007) obtida através de dados de reanálise do modelo operacional NWW3. Informações sobre o regime de ondas no Brasil são escassas e baseadas em observações ocasionais de curto período, sendo a presente análise inédita na escala espaço-temporal apresentada. Para a definição do clima de ondas foram definidos e analisados seis setores ao longo da quebra da plataforma continental brasileira: Sul (W1), Sudeste (W2), Central (W3), Leste (W4), Nordeste (W5) e Norte (W6). W1, W2 e W3 possuem os regimes de ondas controlados pela Alta Subtropical do Atlântico Sul (ASAS) e pela passagem de frentes frias sinóticas; W4, W5 e W6 são controlados pela Zona de Convergência Intertropical (ZCIT) e sua oscilação meridional. As ondas mais energéticas são de S, geradas por ventos intensos associados à passagem de frentes frias, afetando principalmente a região sul e sudeste do país. A energia das ondas apresenta um decréscimo de sul para norte, com a sua variação anual mostrando que o período de inverno as ondas são mais energéticas nos setores W1 a W4, enquanto que nos setores W5 e W6 as condições mais energéticas ocorrem nos meses de verão do hemisfério sul. As informações aqui apresentadas fornecem condições de contorno para diferentes estudos relacionados a processos costeiros, fundamentais para a melhor compreensão da zona costeira do Brasil.

estado do mar; ondas; costa brasileira; WaveWatch III

ARAÚJO, C. E. S.; FRANCO, D.; MELO, E.; PIMENTA, F. Wave regime characteristics of southern Brazilian Coast. In: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COASTAL AND PORT ENGINEERING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, 6., 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Proceedings... COPEDEC VI, 2003. v. 97, p. 15.
BENSI, M.; MARINHO, R. A.; MAIA, L. P. Clima de ondas e sua implicação com a erosão costeira ao longo do Estado do Ceará. In: CONGRESSO DE ENGENHARIA DE PESCA, Fortaleza, Ceará, 2005. CONBEP, 2005. p. 802-815.
BITTENCOURT, A. C. S. P; DOMINGUEZ, J. M. L; FONTES, L. C. S.; SOUSA, D. L.; SILVA, I. R.; SILVA, F. R. Wave refraction, river damming, and episodes of severe shoreline erosion: The São Francisco river mouth, Northeastern Brazil. J. coast. Res., v. 23, n. 4, p. 930-938, 2007.
CAIRES, S.; STERL, A.; BIDLOT, J. R.; GRAHAM, N.; SWAIL, V. Intercomparison of different wind-wave reanalyses. J. Climate, v. 17, p. 1893–1913, 2004.
CANDELLA, R. N. Estudo de casos de ondas no Oceano Atlântico Sul através de modelagem numérica Master's Thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ, Brazil, 1997. 80 p.
CAPLAN, P. ; DERBER, J. ; GEMMILL,W. ; HONG, S. Y.; PAN, H. L. ; PARISH, D. F. Changes to the 1995 NCEP operational medium-range forecast model analysis/forecast system. Weather Forecasting, v. 12, p. 581–594, 1997.
CASTRO, B. M ; MIRANDA L. B. Physical Oceanography of the Western Atlantic Continental Shelf located between 4°N and 34°S - Coastal segment (4,W). In: ROBINSON A. R.; BRINK K. H. (Ed.). The Sea New York: J. Wiley & Sons, 1998. v. 11, p. 209-251.
CHERFAS, C. The fringe of the ocean – under siege from land. Science, v. 248, n. 4952, p. 163-164, 1990.
DERBER, J. C.; PARISH, D. F.; LORD, S. J. The new global operational analysis system at the National Meteorological Center. Weather Forecasting, v. 6, p. 538–547, 1991.
DOMINGUEZ, J. M. L. The coastal zone of Brazil. In: DILLENBURG, S.R.; HESP, P.A. (Ed.). Geology and Geomorphology of Holocene coastal barriers of Brazil Berlin: Springer, 2009. p. 17-51. (Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, v. 107, 2009).
DOMINGUEZ, J. M. L.; ANDRADE, A. C. S.; ALMEIDA, A. B.; BITTENCOURT, A. C. S. P. The Holocene Barrier Strandplains of the State of Bahia. In: DILLENBURG, S.R.; HESP, P.A. (Ed.). Geology and Geomorphology of Holocene coastal barriers of Brazil Berlin: Springer, 2009. p. 253-288. (Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, v. 107, 2009).
GAN, M. A.; RAO, V. B. Surface cyclogenesis over South America. American Meteorological Society, 1991. v. 119, p. 1293-1302.
GRAHAM, N. E.; DIAZ, H. F. Evidence for intensification of North Pacific winter cyclones since 1948. Bull. Am. Met. Soc., v. 82, p. 1869–1893, 2001.
INMAN, D. L.; MASTERS, P. M. Status of research on the nearshore. Shore Beach, v. 62: 11-20, 1994.
KANAMITSU, M. Description of the NMC global data assimilation and forecast system. Weather Forecasting, v. 4, p. 335–243, 1989.
KANAMITSU, M.; ALPERT, J.; CAMPANA, K.; CAPLAN, P.; DEAVEN, D.; IREDELL, M.; KATZ, B.; PAN, H. L.; SELA, J.; WHITE, G. Recent Changes implemented into the Global Forecast System at NMC. Weather Forecasting, v. 6, p. 425–435, 1991.
KOMAR, P. D. Beach processes and sedimentation 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1998. 544 p.
McGREGOR, G. R.; NIEUWOLT, S. Tropical Climatology 2^nd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1998. 339 p.
NIMER, E. Climatologia do Brasil Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 1979. 422p. (Série Recursos Naturais e Meio Ambiente, v. 4).
NIMER, E. Climatologia do Brasil 2^nd ed. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 1989. 421p.
ORSELLI, J. Climatologia. In: GAPLAN-SC. Atlas de Santa Catarina, 1986. p. 38-39.
PEREIRA, J.; CANDELLA, R. N.; CARVALHO, J. L. B. O clima de ondas na costa sul de Arraial do Cabo, RJ: distribuição de parâmetros de onda. Notas Tec. Facimar, v. 4, p. 1-9, 2000.
RUSU, L.; PILAR, P.; GUEDES SOARES; C. Hindcast of the wave conditions along the west Iberian coast. Coast. Engng, v. 55, n. 11, p. 906-919, 2008.
SEBASTIÃO, P.; GUEDES SOARES, C.; BOOIJ, N. Wave hindcasting off the coast of Portugal. Coast. Engng, v. 40, n. 4, p. 411-425, 2000.
SIEGLE, E.; ASP, N. E. Wave refraction and longshore transport patterns along the southern Santa Catarina coast. Braz. J. Oceanogr., v. 55, p. 109-120, 2007.
SIEGLE, E.; HUNTLEY, D. A.; DAVIDSON, M. A. Coupling video imaging and numerical modeling for the study of inlet morphodynamics. Mar. Geology, v. 236, p. 143-163, 2007.
SIEGLE, E.; HUNTLEY, D. A.; DAVIDSON, M. A. Physical controls on the dynamics of inlet sandbar systems. Ocean Dynamics, v. 54, p. 360-373, 2004.
STECH, J. L. Um estudo comparativo da dinâmica da circulação de inverno entre as plataformas continentais das costas sudeste do Brasil e dos Estados Unidos utilizando um modelo numérico Tese (Doutorado). Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 1990.
STECH, J. L.; LORENZZETTI, J. A. Response of the South Brazil Bight to the passage of Wintertime cold fronts. J. geophys. Res., v. 97(C6), p. 9507-9520,1992.
TOLMAN, H. L. User manual and system documentation of WAVEWATCH III version 1.18. NOAA/NWS/NCEP/OMB. Tech. Note 166, 1999. 110 p. [Available online at <http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/wavewatch
TOLMAN, H. L. User manual and system documentation of WAVEWATCH-III version 1.15. NOAA / NWS / NCEP / OMB. Tech. Note, 1997. v.151, p. 97, 1997.
TOLMAN, H. L.Validation of a new global wave forecast system at NCEP. In: EDGE B. L.; HELMSLEY J.M. (Ed.). Ocean wave measurements and analysis, ASCE, 1998. p. 777-786
TOLMAN, H. L.; BALASUBRAMANIYAN, B.; BURROUGHS, L.D.; CHALIKOV, D. V.; CHAO, Y. Y.; CHEN, H. S.; GERALD, V. M. Development and implementation of wind-generated ocean surfacewave models at NCEP. Washington, D.C.: American Meteorological Society, 2002. v.17, p. 311-333.
WANG, X. L. L.; SWAIL, V. R. Changes of extreme wave heights in Northern Hemisphere oceans and related atmospheric circulation regimes. J. Climate, v. 14, p. 2204–2221, 2001.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
30 Apr 2010
Date of issue
Mar 2010

History

Accepted
14 Dec 2009
Reviewed
05 Nov 2009
Received
17 Aug 2009

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

[1] ARAÚJO, C. E. S.; FRANCO, D.; MELO, E.; PIMENTA, F. Wave regime characteristics of southern Brazilian Coast. In: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COASTAL AND PORT ENGINEERING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, 6., 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Proceedings... COPEDEC VI, 2003. v. 97, p. 15.

[2] BENSI, M.; MARINHO, R. A.; MAIA, L. P. Clima de ondas e sua implicação com a erosão costeira ao longo do Estado do Ceará. In: CONGRESSO DE ENGENHARIA DE PESCA, Fortaleza, Ceará, 2005. CONBEP, 2005. p. 802-815.

[3] BITTENCOURT, A. C. S. P; DOMINGUEZ, J. M. L; FONTES, L. C. S.; SOUSA, D. L.; SILVA, I. R.; SILVA, F. R. Wave refraction, river damming, and episodes of severe shoreline erosion: The São Francisco river mouth, Northeastern Brazil. J. coast. Res., v. 23, n. 4, p. 930-938, 2007.

[4] CAIRES, S.; STERL, A.; BIDLOT, J. R.; GRAHAM, N.; SWAIL, V. Intercomparison of different wind-wave reanalyses. J. Climate, v. 17, p. 1893–1913, 2004.

[5] CANDELLA, R. N. Estudo de casos de ondas no Oceano Atlântico Sul através de modelagem numérica Master's Thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ, Brazil, 1997. 80 p.

[6] CAPLAN, P. ; DERBER, J. ; GEMMILL,W. ; HONG, S. Y.; PAN, H. L. ; PARISH, D. F. Changes to the 1995 NCEP operational medium-range forecast model analysis/forecast system. Weather Forecasting, v. 12, p. 581–594, 1997.

[7] CASTRO, B. M ; MIRANDA L. B. Physical Oceanography of the Western Atlantic Continental Shelf located between 4°N and 34°S - Coastal segment (4,W). In: ROBINSON A. R.; BRINK K. H. (Ed.). The Sea New York: J. Wiley & Sons, 1998. v. 11, p. 209-251.

[8] CHERFAS, C. The fringe of the ocean – under siege from land. Science, v. 248, n. 4952, p. 163-164, 1990.

[9] DERBER, J. C.; PARISH, D. F.; LORD, S. J. The new global operational analysis system at the National Meteorological Center. Weather Forecasting, v. 6, p. 538–547, 1991.

[10] DOMINGUEZ, J. M. L. The coastal zone of Brazil. In: DILLENBURG, S.R.; HESP, P.A. (Ed.). Geology and Geomorphology of Holocene coastal barriers of Brazil Berlin: Springer, 2009. p. 17-51. (Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, v. 107, 2009).

[11] DOMINGUEZ, J. M. L.; ANDRADE, A. C. S.; ALMEIDA, A. B.; BITTENCOURT, A. C. S. P. The Holocene Barrier Strandplains of the State of Bahia. In: DILLENBURG, S.R.; HESP, P.A. (Ed.). Geology and Geomorphology of Holocene coastal barriers of Brazil Berlin: Springer, 2009. p. 253-288. (Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, v. 107, 2009).

[12] GAN, M. A.; RAO, V. B. Surface cyclogenesis over South America. American Meteorological Society, 1991. v. 119, p. 1293-1302.

[13] GRAHAM, N. E.; DIAZ, H. F. Evidence for intensification of North Pacific winter cyclones since 1948. Bull. Am. Met. Soc., v. 82, p. 1869–1893, 2001.

[14] INMAN, D. L.; MASTERS, P. M. Status of research on the nearshore. Shore Beach, v. 62: 11-20, 1994.

[15] KANAMITSU, M. Description of the NMC global data assimilation and forecast system. Weather Forecasting, v. 4, p. 335–243, 1989.

[16] KANAMITSU, M.; ALPERT, J.; CAMPANA, K.; CAPLAN, P.; DEAVEN, D.; IREDELL, M.; KATZ, B.; PAN, H. L.; SELA, J.; WHITE, G. Recent Changes implemented into the Global Forecast System at NMC. Weather Forecasting, v. 6, p. 425–435, 1991.

[17] KOMAR, P. D. Beach processes and sedimentation 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1998. 544 p.

[18] McGREGOR, G. R.; NIEUWOLT, S. Tropical Climatology 2^nd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1998. 339 p.

[19] NIMER, E. Climatologia do Brasil Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 1979. 422p. (Série Recursos Naturais e Meio Ambiente, v. 4).

[20] NIMER, E. Climatologia do Brasil 2^nd ed. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 1989. 421p.

[21] ORSELLI, J. Climatologia. In: GAPLAN-SC. Atlas de Santa Catarina, 1986. p. 38-39.

[22] PEREIRA, J.; CANDELLA, R. N.; CARVALHO, J. L. B. O clima de ondas na costa sul de Arraial do Cabo, RJ: distribuição de parâmetros de onda. Notas Tec. Facimar, v. 4, p. 1-9, 2000.

[23] RUSU, L.; PILAR, P.; GUEDES SOARES; C. Hindcast of the wave conditions along the west Iberian coast. Coast. Engng, v. 55, n. 11, p. 906-919, 2008.

[24] SEBASTIÃO, P.; GUEDES SOARES, C.; BOOIJ, N. Wave hindcasting off the coast of Portugal. Coast. Engng, v. 40, n. 4, p. 411-425, 2000.

[25] SIEGLE, E.; ASP, N. E. Wave refraction and longshore transport patterns along the southern Santa Catarina coast. Braz. J. Oceanogr., v. 55, p. 109-120, 2007.

[26] SIEGLE, E.; HUNTLEY, D. A.; DAVIDSON, M. A. Coupling video imaging and numerical modeling for the study of inlet morphodynamics. Mar. Geology, v. 236, p. 143-163, 2007.

[27] SIEGLE, E.; HUNTLEY, D. A.; DAVIDSON, M. A. Physical controls on the dynamics of inlet sandbar systems. Ocean Dynamics, v. 54, p. 360-373, 2004.

[28] STECH, J. L. Um estudo comparativo da dinâmica da circulação de inverno entre as plataformas continentais das costas sudeste do Brasil e dos Estados Unidos utilizando um modelo numérico Tese (Doutorado). Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 1990.

[29] STECH, J. L.; LORENZZETTI, J. A. Response of the South Brazil Bight to the passage of Wintertime cold fronts. J. geophys. Res., v. 97(C6), p. 9507-9520,1992.

[30] TOLMAN, H. L. User manual and system documentation of WAVEWATCH III version 1.18. NOAA/NWS/NCEP/OMB. Tech. Note 166, 1999. 110 p. [Available online at <http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/wavewatch

[31] TOLMAN, H. L. User manual and system documentation of WAVEWATCH-III version 1.15. NOAA / NWS / NCEP / OMB. Tech. Note, 1997. v.151, p. 97, 1997.

[32] TOLMAN, H. L.Validation of a new global wave forecast system at NCEP. In: EDGE B. L.; HELMSLEY J.M. (Ed.). Ocean wave measurements and analysis, ASCE, 1998. p. 777-786

[33] TOLMAN, H. L.; BALASUBRAMANIYAN, B.; BURROUGHS, L.D.; CHALIKOV, D. V.; CHAO, Y. Y.; CHEN, H. S.; GERALD, V. M. Development and implementation of wind-generated ocean surfacewave models at NCEP. Washington, D.C.: American Meteorological Society, 2002. v.17, p. 311-333.

[34] WANG, X. L. L.; SWAIL, V. R. Changes of extreme wave heights in Northern Hemisphere oceans and related atmospheric circulation regimes. J. Climate, v. 14, p. 2204–2221, 2001.