Data for: Saturation of ocean surface wave slopes observed during hurricanes

Observational wave data and modeled wind data to accompany the article J. Davis et al. (2023) "Saturation of ocean surface wave slopes observed during hurricanes" in Geophysical Research Letters. The observations include targeted aerial deployments into Hurricane Ian (2022) and opportunistic measurements from the free-drifting Sofar Ocean Spotter global network in Hurricane Fiona (2022). Surface wind speeds are modeled using the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System for Tropical Cyclones (COAMPS-TC). The datasets are table-like and include the following: 1) hourly records of surface wave statistics in the form of scalar energy spectra, directional moments, derived products (including mean square slope), and modeled wind speeds; 2) data to reproduce the binned mean square slopes and model wind speeds presented in the article; 3) data to reproduce the mean energy density versus wind speed plot; and 4) data to reproduce the mean energy density versus wave age plot.
Methods
This dataset contains wave measurements collected by free-drifting Spotter buoys (Sofar Ocean) which use GPS-derived motions to report hourly records of surface wave statistics in the form of scalar energy spectra and directional moments. The observational data are combined with modeled surface wind speeds from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System for Tropical Cyclones (COAMPS-TC) which are interpolated onto the Spotter wave observations in time and space.