HIGH-RESOLUTION COMPUTATIONS OF OCEAN WAVE SPECTRAL MODULATIONS DUE TO 2-DIMENSIONAL WAVE-CURRENT INTERACTIONS

A new nesting technique has been developed for computing solutions of the steady-state form of the wave action equation. The technique is es pecially useful for investigating the effects of resolution on the acc uracy and stability of the computation. This has importance in the pro blem of determining ocean wave spectra under the influence of ambient wind fields and current distributions. The technique enables extremely high resolution computations to be performed with minimal computer st orage requirements. It is especially useful for applications in modell ing radar imagery of the ocean surface. Investigations of the converge nce, stability, and accuracy of the procedure are made possible by int roducing a fixed grid point location which is common to all the nested grids. In order to display the method, we apply it to a particular mo del of an oceanographic current rip feature that was recently observed during the first High Resolution Remote Sensing Experiment. Limitatio ns of the method are also discussed. (C) 1997 Academic Press.