Attenuation of surface waves due to monsoon rains: A model study for the north Indian Ocean

Abstract

The dynamic interaction of intense rain with waves based on momentum exchange is applied to a second generation wave model to predict wave attenuation during monsoon. The scheme takes into account the characteristics of rain and wave parameters such as rain intensity, angle of incidence, fall velocity, wave amplitude and wave frequency. The model results pertaining to monsoon season of July 1987 show a maximum wave attenuation of about 28%. The results highlight the importance of including rain effect as a source parameter (negative mechanism) in the model for predicting waves over the north Indian Ocean during monsoons; otherwise, model (without rain) over predicts the actual waves