Wind speed, wind direction, fetch length and wind duration were used as input variables, while significant wave height, peak spectral period and mean wave direction were the output parameters.
This positioning has allowed a fetch of wind to come off the warm waters in a consistent manner.
"The dramatic wave heights are related to a consistent fetch of wind action that. . . has origins up near Alaska," Marshall Shepherd, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia, writes at Forbes.
The dramatic wave heights are related to a consistent fetch of wind action that, as Weather Channel expert Tom Niziol tweeted in his back-trajectory analysis, has origins up near Alaska.
At its peak, the storm featured an unprecedented 2,000-mile-long 2,000-mile-long 2,000-mile-longom the Aleutian Islands to just north ofetchaii, with the resulting swell energyaimed directly at the islands.
For one thing, the approaching wind flow adopted in a wind-tunnel topographic study is adjusted according to the mean wind profile extracted from a meso-scale meteorological simulation of Typhoon Fengshen (2008) for a particular period, during which the observed wind direction indicated the sea-fetch wind flow.
The two main meteorological factors contributing to a storm surge are a long fetch of winds spiraling inward toward the storm, and a low-pressure-induced dome of water drawn up under and trailing the storm's center.
The height of wind waves increases with increasing wind speed and with increasing duration and fetch of the wind (i.e., the distance over which the wind blows).
Many formulations have been developed so far to predict the wave height and period from fetch length and wind blowing duration for a constant wind speed.
Additionally, a larger near-surface wind field can generate higher storm surge due to the combination of longer wind fetch, longer duration, and enhanced wave setup.
