Empirical models for estimating wave height under moderate to high wind under following, cross and opposing swell conditions

Air-sea interactions affect hurricane intense and track. Wave height is one of crucial wave parameters that govern these interactions. By classifying the observation into following, cross, and opposing swells, wave height was parameterized by using the 10-m wind speed collected at 5 buoys by National data Buoy Center during 17 hurricane events. The path information of these 17 hurricanes was obtained from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) Best Track (BT) estimate. The results show that wave height linearly increases with 10-m wind speed when 10-m wind speed is less than 23.5 (28.5) m s-1, and wave height keeps constant value of 6.9 m (10 m) when 10-m wind speed is higher than 23.5 (28.5) m s-1 under the opposing (following and cross) swell conditions. The linear regression equations were given. Owing to the newly presented empirical model's requirement for simple, available input and its accuracy, we recommend its use within numerical models for initializations when detailed information about friction velocity and wave phase velocity is lacking.