A novel technique for experimental modal analysis of barotropic seiches for assessing lake energetics

In this study, the principles of operational modal analysis, through the Random Decrement Technique (RDT), currently used primarily in the analysis of high rise structures and in the aeronautical industry and not previously applied within the fields of limnology or ecology, are applied to barotropic seiches through the analysis of water level data for Lake Geneva, Switzerland, and Lake Tahoe, USA. Using this technique, the autocorrelation of the measurements is estimated using the RDT and modal analysis can then be carried out on this time-domain signal to estimate periods of the dominant surface seiches and the corresponding damping ratios. Provided within this dataset are a set of example MATLAB scripts for the application of the Random Decrement Technique to barotropic seiche analysis, alongside the water elevation data for Lake Geneva and Lake Tahoe used within "A novel technique for experimental modal analysis of barotropic seiches for assessing lake energetics" (Wynne et al, 2019).