GUIDE WAVE ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING - WMO

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considerable attention. Annex III, which is related to this
chapter, contains a list of various distribution functions
and their properties. It has been noted that knowledge of
the wave climate is important in operational forecasting
as well as in the estimation of extremes. Hence, the
second part of Chapter 9 is devoted to the derivation of
wave climatologies, from hindcasts as well as wave data.
In respect to hindcasts we still face the problem of
generating reliable historical wind fields, particularly
from the time before the introduction of fine-mesh
models in the early 1970s. The chapter includes tables
identifying sources of major climatologies, both from
measured and observed data and from hindcast wave
data.
It is acknowledged that material has been included
that is dated and “perishable”. It is inevitable that
information on the status of data acquisition, models
being used, products being delivered, studies in progress
GUIDE TO WAVE ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING
and other activities, which was correct at the time of
writing, is going to change. However, inclusion of these
items is necessary in a publication of this type.
This publication is intended to provide guidance in
solving day-to-day problems. In some cases, however,
the problems concerned go beyond the scope of this
Guide. If the reader wishes to pursue particular topics
then sufficient references are included to provide a gateway
to the open literature. The editor of the relevant
chapter may also be contacted; the names and affiliations
are listed in the “Acknowledgments”. Further, the Guide
is not intended to be a self-contained training course. In
particular, specialist training courses are recommended
for marine forecasters who are required to make wave
forecasts. For example, the interpretation of the guidance
which the output from a particular wave model provides
for a particular national forecast service goes well
beyond the scope of this Guide.