Wave Information Study

Updates/Changes

IMPORTANT NOTICE
WIS Users - Great Lakes: Lake Erie

• July 2024:
  - The 2023 Hindcast has been applied.
• September 2023: The 2022 Hindcast has been applied.
• March 2023: The 2021 Hindcast has been applied.
• October 2022: The 2020 Hindcast has been uploaded. Most nearshore stations should have the full complement from 1979-2020.

Older updates

• 05/12/2015: The Wave Information Study completed a one year update (1 January 2013 through 1 January 2014) of the Lake Erie wave hindcast. All output products were regenerated and posted. The continuous hindcast zipped file now spans the period from 1979 through 2014.
• 11/25/2013: The Wave Information Study is pleased to announce the posting of an update to the Lake Erie Wave Hindcast. The period of record now spans from 1979 through 2012 (the addition of 2010 through 2012). All products have been re-evaluated with the additional 3-yr update to the Lake Erie Hindcast.
• 09/26/2012: The Wave Information Study is pleased to announce the posting of the new Lake Erie Wave Hindcast. The period of record spans from 1979 through 2009. Hourly wave estimates (included are wind speed and direction) are provided and downloadable. All previous versions of the WIS Lake Erie Hindcast have been replaced with the vastly improved hindcast.
  
  The wave model WAM (see Komen et al., 1994) is the technology used for the simulations. The model was run on a 0.02-deg fixed spherical grid. Shallow water effects were applied. Wind fields derived from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR, 1979 - 2010, Saha et al., 2010, AMS BAMS, Aug 2010, 1015-1057). The wind fields were spatially interpolated to the wave model grid. The temporal resolution of the CFSR wind fields was 1-hr.
  
  Initial forensic testing indicated the CFSR wind fields were biased low. This analysis was based on multi-decadal point-source measurements either at surface buoy locations or from land-based meteorological stations in close proximity to the lake proper. The evaluation indicated there was only a dependency on the magnitude in the winds. There was no directional or seasonal dependency in the deviations. These adjustments were made and the revised winds used in the hindcast.
  
  During the winter months daily ice concentration fields are also applied to the wave model simulations using the NOAA Great Lakes Ice Atlas, Assel, 1973, http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/ice/atlas/ ). A total of 243 special output locations were selected covering the US and Canadian coastlines. Extensive evaluation of the model results were performed using all available point source measurements (e.g. NOAA/National Data Buoy Center, and Environment Canada).
  
  Full documentation of the hindcast including model set-up wind, ice processing and the evaluation will be forthcoming.