Recent Trends in Wind-Wave Climate for the Indian Ocean

Surface gravity waves play an important role in ocean engineering studies and their influence on the dynamics of the coastal zone is critical. Proper knowledge on wind-wave climatology is an area of immense interest to engineers and climate modellers. Climate change has influenced weather patterns over global oceans and at present is a matter of serious concern, as it can have long-term repercussions. There is a need to understand the recent trends in variability of windwaves for planning operations. To improve climate projections the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report highlights the need and importance for wind-wave climate study. With this motivation, we study the variability of recent trends in maximum wind speed (MWS) and maximum significant wave height (MSWH) exclusively based on altimeter data for the Indian Ocean basin. We use daily data of MWS and MSWH from eight satellite missions covering a period of 21 years (1992-2012). The findings indicate that regions in the Southern Ocean (between 45°S and 55°S) experienced the largest variability in wind-wave climate. Higher MSWH resulting from increased MWS has practical implications on swell generation field that eventually cross the hemisphere influencing wind-waves elsewhere. The study also reveals the impact of wind-wave activity for the Indian Ocean basin in the past decade.