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ACT Protocols for Wave Measurement Systems
July 2012
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The shallow water test at the FRF site will also heavily benefit the local NWS WFO and their
efforts to implement and improve their near shore wave modeling efforts. Data from this co-
location exercise will be made available to the WFO in near real-time for this purpose.
10.3 Great Lakes, Deep Water and Shallow Water Waves (Task 4)
There are two potential sites for a co-located evaluation in
the Great Lakes. The first is a deep water site (160 m)
adjacent to NDBC 45007 in southern Lake Michigan. The
deep water site will be the top priority for the Great Lakes
evaluation. A secondary, shallow water site was identified
(20 m water depth) immediately offshore of the NOAA /
GLERL (Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory),
Field Station in Muskegon, MI. This region has cabled
capability for instrument communication and data collection.
Ideally, the evaluation would begin in March and end in November due to the constraint of
winter weather (ice) conditions. However, near shore wave measurements and wave instrument
performance during the winter months are critical to the NWS WFO operations. One component
of this test would be to keep bottom-mounted wave sensors in the water
during the winter months to evaluate performance in this harsh
environment.
Efforts will be made to determine the interest of the Canadian Government
in investing their buoys for a Lake Superior deployment. If they have no
interest in comparison, ACT will deploy the sensors in southern Lake
Michigan. The Datawell Waverider will be co-located with the NDBC
buoy 45007, S2, and Triaxys.
10.4 Gulf of Mexico, Episodic Events (Task 5)
The Gulf of Mexico site was chosen to provide an evaluation of
instrument performance in shallow water, off Tampa Bay, during
extreme events. The USF/COMPS network operates and maintains a
coastal and offshore monitoring network that measures currents, in-
water parameters, and a full suite of meteorological variables. A co-
location exercise off Tampa Bay would be ideal due to the amount of
available ancillary data. Overall, meteorology is not significant for
general wave climatology, however tropical storm systems can spin up
waves at least 6 meters high. It will also be valuable to consider a
deep water co-location evaluation using oil platforms as deployment
sites. Most platforms are equipped with oceanographic sensors and
capabilities for additional deployments. This would require
collaboration and logistical support from platform operators. ACT
identifies this as a low priority. If the funding climate dictates, the