Surface waves generated by shamal and easterly winds off Qatar

Abstract

Waves in the Arabian Gulf are primarily controlled by the regional winds, for example, shamal winds during winter and early summer. Though Gulf wave characteristics have been heavily utilized for the design of offshore platforms and structures, wave features associated with various wind systems are not explicitly covered scientifically, say, for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Qatar. Therefore, we made an attempt to identify the features associated with different wind systems by analyzing the measured waves off Fuwairit, north coast of Qatar during 29 Oct - 26 Nov 2019. The analyses have been further extended to the Gulf using the reanalysis waves obtained from the COPERNICUS Marine Environment Monitoring Services (CMEMS) to describe the monthly, seasonal and annual characteristics. The results indicate that the easterly waves generated due to Nashi winds influence the east and northeast coasts of Qatar and shamal waves show clear dominance in the northern and northeastern offshore boundaries of the EEZ of Qatar. We find exceptional easterly (Nashi) waves during March 2019 contributing to the highest monthly mean significant wave height, which is a deviation from the known long-term wave climate of the Gulf.