On the Long-term Behaviour of Wind-Wave Climatology over the West Region of Scotland, UK

Abstract

Using 38 years (January 1973-December 2010) of hourly wind records, the present paper aims at drawing the possible long-term trends of winds and ten surface wave parameters over the west region of Scotland using the quadratic regression approach.  Four dominant wind components were determined: the southern, the western, the south-western and the north-western. Two opposite groups of oscillations were proven: one for the southern groups and one for the western groups. The examined wave parameters were: the wave frequency, the wave angular frequency, the peak angular frequency, the wave spectral density, the significant wave height, the peak period, both the peak and group velocities and lastly the wave energy and the wave power. Results revealed that every examined parameter tended to have a cyclic behaviour except the wave spectral density, which appeared to be linearly decreasing. All wave frequencies were in an inverse correlation to the mean monthly wind speed. All other wave parameters appeared to be highly correlated to the mean monthly wind speed with correlation factors exceeding 0.95 except the wave power, which had a correlation factor of 0.89. In conclusion, the general behaviours of the dominant wind components over the west region of Scotland, and of the different wave parameters tend to be cyclic. A longer time series, than that presently used, will be advantageous in order to strengthen this outcome with more robust investigation. This concluded cyclic behaviour may positively impact on the engineering work within the wave energy resource off the western coasts of Scotland.