Probability distributions of peaks, troughs and heights of wind waves measured in the black sea coastal zone

The present paper examines the adequacy of different probability density functions to describe the peaks, troughs and peak-to-trough excursions of wind waves measured in the coastal zone of the Bulgarian part of the Black sea. For that purpose various theories for non-Gaussian random process are applied. Some theories depend on the mean, variance and coefficient of skewness gamma(3) of the process. Others also take the coefficient of kurtosis gamma(4) into consideration. The analyzed field data are gathered in the coastal zone of the Bulgarian part of the Black sea with depth decreasing from 18 to 1.3 m. The measurements are carried out simultaneously for 11 points with time series of 20 min duration. The coefficients of skewness and kurtosis in those time series are expressed as functions of depth and spectral peak frequency. Analogous dependencies on depth of other parameters are also found. As a result of the investigation it is concluded that the probabilities of occurrence of large wave crests and heights are underpredicted by all of the theories considered. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.