Significant wave height

Definition of the significant wave height

The significant wave height (symbol ) describes in coastal engineering and oceanography a certain wave height , the questions of assessment is used by coastal structures and bank protection. ${\ displaystyle \ textstyle H_ {s}}$

The significant wave height is statistically defined as the arithmetic mean of the highest third of the waves (sorted by wave height) of an observation (for a certain sea area and a certain observation time, e.g. over 20 minutes). It is therefore also used as a formula symbol . Assuming a Rayleigh-distributed swell, this wave height is exceeded by 13.5% of all waves. ${\ displaystyle \ textstyle H_ {1/3}}$

The original definition was drawn up by Walter Munk in 1944 and was based on the wave height, which a "trained observer" would estimate as the decisive wave height.

Web links

German Weather Service: Significant wave height

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Ulrich Zanke: Technical hydraulics: Compendium for hydraulic engineering . Springer, 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-05489-1 , pp. 238 .
↑ Working committee "Shore edging" of the Hafentechnische Gesellschaft eV and the German Society for Geotechnics eV (ed.): Recommendations of the working committee "Shore edging": Port and Waterways EAU 2012 . John Wiley & Sons, 2013, ISBN 978-3-433-60240-9 , pp. 113 ff .

[ZankeS238-1] Ulrich Zanke: Technical hydraulics: Compendium for hydraulic engineering . Springer, 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-05489-1 , pp. 238 .

[2] Working committee "Shore edging" of the Hafentechnische Gesellschaft eV and the German Society for Geotechnics eV (ed.): Recommendations of the working committee "Shore edging": Port and Waterways EAU 2012 . John Wiley & Sons, 2013, ISBN 978-3-433-60240-9 , pp. 113 ff .