Waves critically affect man in coastal regions, including the open
coasts and adjacent continental shelves. Preventing beach erosion,
designing and building structures, designing and operating ships,
providing marine forecasts, and coastal planning are but a few examples
of projects for which extensive information about wave conditions is
critical. Scientific studies, especially those in- volving coastal
processes and the development of better wave prediction models, also
require wave condition information. How- ever, wave conditions along and
off the coasts of the United States have not been adequately determined.
The main categories of available wave data are visual estimates of wave
conditions made from ships at sea, scientific measurements of waves made
for short time periods at specific locations, and a small number of
long-term measurements made from piers or offshore platforms. With these
considerations in mind, the National Ocean Survey of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sponsored the Ocean Wave Climate
Symposium at Herndon, Virginia, July 12-14, 1977. This volume contains
papers presented at this symposium. A goal of the symposium was to
establish the foundations for a com- prehensive and far-sighted wave
measurement and analysis program to fully describe the coastal wave
climate of the United States. Emphasis was placed on ocean engineering
and scientific uses of wave data, existing wave monitoring programs, and
modern measure- ment techniques which may provide currently needed data.
