Wave parameters and functions in wavelet analysis

A preliminary study of wave parameters and functions in wavelet analysis is conducted in this paper. The Morlet wavelet transform is used to calculate the time–frequency wavelet energy density function, its volume (i.e. the total energy), its frequency-integral (i.e. the wavelet smoothed instantaneous wave energy history), its time-integral (i.e. the wavelet spectral density function), and two non-dimensional wave indices (NIF, NIT). The processing of the measured wave data obtained from the Chi-Gu coastal observation tower during the period August 2000 to July 2001 indicates that the inter-comparison of wavelet smoothed instantaneous wave energy history and smoothed instantaneous wave energy history (SIWEH) as defined by Funke and Mansard (Proc 17th Int Conf on Ocean Eng, 1980) can reveal the noise structure of the wave signal. The wave data with index NIF greater than 2 is always accompanied with noise, therefore NIF can be used as one of the data quality criteria. The index NIT is linearly correlated with the significant wave period and with the significant wave height, therefore NIT can be used to study the wave growth and decaying phenomena.