Sea wave activity associated to cold surges over Gulf of Mexico

One way nested coupled atmosphere/ocean wave mesoscale models simulations are used to examine cold surges surface winds on the the generation of ocean waves.

Results present that a great wave activity (swell and windsea) can be produced depending on the size domain and duration of the fetch. The phase velocity and significant wave height simulated show a great sensitivity to the spatial and temporal resolution of the wind field produced by the atmospheric mesoscale model. The accuracy of the wind forcing is , therefore, crucial to simulate correctly the surface ocean waves on cold surge events.