Modification of wind-wave model WAM and its verification against buoy data in the Indian Ocean

Abstract

An attempt is made to improve the accuracy of wave prediction in the Indian Ocean. For this purpose, two versions of the wave model WAM have been used: WAM (Cycle 4) and the new version of WAM, called NewWAM. The three important source functions, namely, wind input, breaking dissipation, and nonlinear interaction were modified, and incorporated in the NewWAM model by fitting new coefficients into their respective parameterizations based on the physical processes related to seasonal changes and extreme weather events in the Indian Ocean. The model results thus obtained have been verified using the moored buoy data deployed in the Indian Ocean. Based on the error estimates extracted for the available 5 buoy data for the period 2005-2006, the accuracy of the NewWAM model has been discussed.