Overview of Bering/Chukchi Sea Wave States for Selected Severe Storms

Strong storms are regular features over the ocean west of Alaska. These systems often loiter, generating moderate to severe marine states which can exhibit persistence, maximizing damage and hazard potential. This analysis presents the wave states associated with selected storms over the Bering and Chukchi Seas. These include the damaging events of October 2004, September 2005, and November 2009, along with a strong event from September 2011that exhibited north winds. For each event a brief synoptic overview is presented followed by consideration of the resultant wave state, including parameters such as wave steepness. Wave data come from NOAA's WAVEWATCH III operational global ocean wave model, implemented locally on the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Comparison with observational data gathered by a wave buoy, funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency/NOAA and deployed in 2011, is also undertaken.阿拉斯加以西海域常年频发强风暴。这类风暴往往持续滞留，引发中度至重度海况，且该海况可长期维持，进而放大灾害破坏潜力。本分析聚焦白令海与楚科奇海范围内选定风暴相关的海况特征，所选案例包含2004年10月、2005年9月及2009年11月的破坏性风暴事件，以及2011年9月伴随北风的强风暴事件。针对每起事件，本文先提供简要的天气学概述，随后分析其对应的海况特征，涵盖波陡等参数。海浪数据源自美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA）的WAVEWATCH III业务化全球海浪模式，该模式由阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯分校北极区域超级计算中心本地化部署运行。 本研究同时将模拟结果与美国环境保护署（United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA）/NOAA资助、于2011年布放的海浪浮标观测数据进行对比验证。