North Atlantic Ocean Wave Climate Change Scenarios for the Twenty-First Century

Abstract Using the observed relationships between sea level pressure (SLP) and significant wave height (SWH) as represented by regression models, climate change scenarios of SWH in the North Atlantic were constructed by means of redundancy analysis (for seasonal means and 90th percentiles of SWH) and nonstationary generalized extreme value analysis (for seasonal extreme SWH). SWH scenarios are constructed using output from a coupled climate model under three different forcing scenarios. Scenarios of future anomaly seasonal statistics of SWH are constructed using climate model projections of anomaly seasonal mean SLP while projections of seasonal extreme SWH are made using projections of seasonal mean SLP and seasonal SLP gradient index. The projected changes in SWH are assessed by means of a trend analysis. The northeast Atlantic is projected to have increases in both winter and fall seasonal means and extremes of SWH in the twenty-first century under all three forcing scenarios. These changes are general...

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