STUDY OF THE WAVE SPECTRA IN THE PERSIAN GULF

Abstract

The Persian Gulf is a nearly 1000 km long water body located in the south of Iran with an average depth of 40 meter and a maximum depth of 170 m at its entrance, the Strait of Hormuz. The prevailing wind blows along the axis of the gulf from NW and is known as the Shamal. However, Shamal wind direction changes from NW in the northwest corner of the Persian Gulf to WNW around Kish Island and then to W at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. The north coastline on the Persian Gulf is also exposed to winds from SE which are strong but not as frequent as Shamal winds.
The present study offers some findings of the analysis of the extensive field data along north part of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Storms in the Persian Gulf show very complex patterns under the effects of Shamal, sought and Kaus winds. Wave spectra of selected stations were extracted and examined to find a proper offshore wave spectrum for the Persian Gulf. The newly proposed wave spectrum shows a better agreement with data compared to the known wave spectra.