A Unique strategy for Obtaining Wave and Wind Data in the Gulf of Alaska
Authors: McLeod Wilfred R. , Adamo Louis C. , Hamilton Robert C. 
Published: October 2008

Many planned ocean measurements fail to produce useful data the 1974–1976 Industry sponsored Gulf of Alaska Wave and Wind Measurement Program is attempting to produce useful data from this severe location by following an uncommon strategy of installed spare hardware. The study plan was proposed with the final application of the data, including formats, already defined. This will provide a rational basis for decision making during the course of this data collection project and insure that the final data products are of the highest utility.

The experience gained and lessons learned during this program, regarding the actual measurement of environmental data, have direct application to the measurement of these data in other parts of the world. Specifically, the knowledge gathered on buoy moorings, buoy buoyancy, telemetry, and longterm battery life will be particularly useful to future programs.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in understanding and quantifying the wave climate of the Gulf of Alaska. Several differing programs, Table 1, have been developed by various organizations and investigators to describe operational criteria and to predict design waves that may be expected at specific locations. In March, 1974, Marathon Oil Company, as Administrator, initiated one such program for a participant group of thirteen oil companies: Amoco Production, Atlantic-Richfield, Continental Oil, Exxon, Mobil Oil, Shell Oil, Standard of California, BP Alaska, Gulf Oil, Murphy Oil, Phillips Petroleum, Sun Oil and Marathon. Intersea Research Corporation (IRC) is the prime contractor for the program with Evans Hamilton, Inc., in Houston acting as project coordinator between Marathon and IRC. This industry-sponsored program is known as the Gulf of Alaska Wave and Wind Measurement Program (GAWWMP) and has been described in detail by McLeod (1974).

Briefly, the program was designed to acquire ocean wave data at five locations and wind data at four locations spread across the Alaska shelf from the Trinity Islands on the west to Yakutat on the east, a distance of about 600 nautical miles, Figure 1. These systems have been in operation since early September, 1974, and the present program calls for continuous observations through the winter of 1975–76. Project field operations will be concluded by early summer, 1976, unless the program is extended. The resulting data will be suitable for studies of the average wave height and average zero-crossing period at all five sites, and the non-directional wave spectrum at three of the sites.

Standard references (e.g., Climatological and Oceanographic Atlas for Mariners) indicate gale force winds (Beaufort Force 8, 37.4 knots) about 10 percent of the time in fall and winter, with seas greater than 8 feet occurring with a similar frequency. While the data base for the available statistics is small, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that the wind and wave conditions are severe. The severe operating conditions not only are expected to affect offshore industrial operations, but, in fact, have already strongly affected data-gathering operations.