On the Accuracy of Voluntary Observing Ship’s Records

February 12, 2021

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>A one-to-one comparison of the significant wave height reported by Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS) with the ERA-interim database is performed. A preliminary filtering procedure allows excluding reports affected by the most evident observations’ errors and removing the systematic biases in order to clean up the database. A statistical analysis confirms the previous finding regarding the goodness of the database when analyzing average values, but also highlights a large spreading of the observations. The work identifies critical areas and conditions in which the mismatch between numerical data and observations is more significant. The pattern of the differences reveals a regional consistency with VOS overestimating the significant wave height in marginal and enclosed seas as well as in the western sides of the oceans, while showing good matches in the eastern sides and offshore areas, except in the southern oceans where VOS leads to underestimations. The causes of such differences are finally discussed.</jats:p>

Authors in the community:

• 

  C

  Carlos Guedes Soares

  ist11869

  Affiliations and sources

  IST > CENTEC

  Centro de Engenharia e Tecnologia Naval e Oceânica

  In: cienciavitae

  ID: 2534027

VoR - Version of Record

ASME International

Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering

054501-6

143

5

0892-7219

10.1115/1.4049828

other-engineering-and-technologies - Other engineering and technologies

Keywords

• Mechanical Engineering
• Ocean Engineering

eng - English

http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.4049828