Ocean wave heights along the U.S.
East Coast have progressively increased during the summer months-when hurricanes are most important to wave generation-as shown by analyses of measurements taken from three buoys since the 1970s. These analyses, as well as other wave height variations with regard to climate change.
The majority of research regarding global climate change has been concerned with the projected rise in sea level. Considerably less attention has been given to the enhancement of storm intensities and the waves they generate, which could equally impact shores.
In this study, researchers analyzed the waves measured by the three buoys of the National Data Buoy Center located along the central U.S. Atlantic shore, and one buoy in the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, they had intended to study whether there had been increasing wave heights generated by nor' easters but found no significant change. Summer data showed a different picture. Histograms of the ranges of significant wave heights measured during the hurricane season show that the most extreme occmTences during the 1996 to 2005 decade were both higher and more common than those of 30 years ago, having increased from about 7 m to higher than 10 m. The waves recorded by the buoys depended on the annual numbers of hurricanes that followed tracks northward into the central Atlantic, how close their tracks approached the buoys, and the intensities of those hurricanes.
Examinations of the storms that have occurred since 1980 indicate that the primary explanation for the progressive increase in wave heights has been an intensification of the hurricanes, factoring in an increased numbers of storms. Whatever the ultimate answer, the researchers say that still-greater hazards to communities along those coasts will continue.
