Reconstruction of Complex 2D Wave Spectra for Rapid Deployment of Nearshore Wave Models

This paper presents a method for re-creating 2-dimensional (i.e. frequency/direction) wave spectra from a subset of integrated parameters describing wave systems derived from spectral partitioning of model spectra. As the storage of full 2D spectra at every model point requires a prohibitively large amount of space, this method provides a ∼90% saving in storage and the ability to reconstruct full 2D spectra at any given model point. This provides improved flexibility in providing fully descriptive spectral boundary conditions to nearshore and coastal spectral wave models, such as SWAN (Booij, 1999), which are important for properly representing multi-modal sea states at the boundary. Initial inter-comparison results of the reconstructed and original model spectra are encouraging and show the method to be viable. An extended method for dealing with reconstruction of narrow banded swell systems and turning wind seas is also presented.