Sustained Open Access Global Wave Observations for Science and Society

Abstract

Studies of the generation and propagation of surface waves in the open ocean have been traditionally supported by sparse observations. Wave climatology is only known through data from expensive and heavy open ocean moorings, often not optimized for observing surface waves, coastal wave observing networks, or from satellites that can only measure the wave's amplitude. Yet, knowledge of wave physics is of fundamental importance to understand how the ocean and the atmosphere are coupled and to quantify, for example, exchanges of gas and momentum. Of similar importance is understanding how oceanic mesoscale, such as eddies and boundary currents, affect wave steepness and propagation; ultimately important to quantify, for example, hazards to navigation and to protect coastal communities from floods. Scientific advances in data assimilation and wave resolving models, which are supported by our visionary approach, are needed to improve coupled models to support extreme events modeling and forecasting and for improving climate assessment. In-situ global wave observations are one of the obviously missing key ingredients that are hampering progress in oceanography, meteorology, and climate sciences.