Variability and trends in the wave climate of the North Atlantic: A review

Measurements of wave height away from the coast only became possible during the 1950's, and studies of wave climate from measured data only commenced in the late 1950's. Analysis of visual estimates and measurements over the next 20 years indicated a significant increase in wave height in parts of the North Atlantic. By the late 1980's there were sufficient years of wave measurements at a few locations in the NE Atlantic to suggest a statistically significant increase in mean wave heights. This suggestion, together with a widespread feeling that winter storms were getting more severe in the Atlantic and concerns about 'global warming', provoked considerable research into wave climate during the past ten years. Global measurements from satellites and estimates from numerical wave models have provided a growing database for detailed studies of decadal trends, and of spatial variability, as well as of temporal variability. This paper reviews these activities over the past few decades.