A global climate analysis of wave parameters with a focus on wave period from 1979 to 2018

Abstract Ocean waves are crucial for the engineering community, both in the open ocean and in the coastal zone. By studying a 40-year (1979-2018) global hindcast, a systematic and long-term analysis on the temporal variation and spatial pattern of wave parameters is performed, with a focus on wave period. The mean and maximal conditions of peak period reflect the dominance of the swell and the region where it generates. The variabilities of the significant wave height and peak period show that high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) have a generally large wave with a small dispersion. Trend patterns of peak period present similarities and differences, which can be associated with the climate mode. Spatial scopes of influence by this mode show the signal in the peak period, exceeding the local correlation zone and presenting a remote correlation. The joint characteristic of the significant wave height and peak period presents the differences of representative and extreme sea states in tropical regions and high latitudes, such as a large variation in high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and an extreme peak period occurring simultaneously with small significant wave height in tropical regions.