Abstract
A reliable understanding of wave climate is the prerequisite for all marine users. Safe navigation, coastal infrastructure establishment and maintenance, and understanding coastal morpho-dynamics are examples for which wave data are needed. Nearshore wave characteristics are highly affected by bathymetric features which are dynamic and usually not well resolved in shallow water areas. Moreover, observational data over the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGoM) are mostly available at offshore stations, and few ones are available in shallow water with wave data. Long-term wave measurements are usually not available in the nearshore coastal environments and only occasional research measurements are available for shallow water stations. It is while, shallow water waves are a major parameter contributing to the wetland loss process. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the extent in land-water change throughout the coastal zone of the US, USGS reported that eighty-five percent of the coastal wetland loss in the contiguous United States occurs in the Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, numerical models are to be adopted to obtain reliable wave estimations over NGoM nearshore areas. Accurate simulated wind fields play the most important role in obtaining reliable wave simulations; something which are usually adopted from global and regional models. However, the global model data show considerable bias from observations near the land water interface. Hence, wind data correction may increase the wave model results, specifically over the estuarine environments. The present study aims to investigate nearshore wave characteristics over the NGoM waters. To this end, a wave model has been setup for the NGoM, with improved input wind data through a wind correction method approaches. The simulated wave data were verified against available real field observations. Hence, the shallow water wave characteristics are investigated in details in locations of interest over the Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana coastlines.
