Observing Surface Wave Directional Spectra under Typhoon Megi (2010) Using Subsurface EM-APEX Floats

Abstract

AbstractEM-APEX floats as autonomous vehicles have been used for profiling temperature, salinity, and current velocity for more than a decade. In the traditional method for processing horizontal current velocity from float measurements, signals of surface wave motion are removed as residuals. Here, a new data processing method is proposed for deriving the horizontal velocity of surface waves at the floats. Combined with the vertical acceleration measurements of waves, surface wave directional spectra E(f, θ) can be computed. This method is applied to the float measurements on the right of Typhoon Megi’s 2010 track. At 0.6 days before the passage of Megi’s eye to the floats, the fast-propagating swell may affect wind waves forced by the local storm wind. When the storm moves closer to the floats, the increasing wind speed and decreasing angle between wind and dominant wave direction may enhance the wind forcing and form a monomodal spectrum E(f). The peak frequency fp ~ 0.08 Hz and significant wave height > 10 m are found near the eyewall. After the passage of the eye to the floats, fp increases to >0.1 Hz. Although E(f) still has a single spectral peak at the rear-right quadrant of Megi, E(f, θ) at frequencies from 0.08 to 0.12 Hz has waves propagating in three different directions as a trimodal spectrum, partially due to the swell propagating from the rear-left quadrant. Enhancing the capability of EM-APEX floats to observe wave spectra is critical for exploring the roles of surface waves in the upper ocean dynamics in the future.