Dr.
V. J. Cardone and Dr. J. A. Greenwood, co-founders of Oceanweather,
established international reputations as ocean modelers
by virtue of their continuous development and implementation
of spectral wave models. They
were an integral part of the team, which in the late 1960's
under the supervision of Professor Willard J. Pierson of
New York University, developed and transferred to the U.S.
Navy Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center (FNOC), the
first spectral wave model used for operational hemispheric
real-time wave forecasting (SOWM). This so-called first
generation (1-G) model was later refined as the Ocean Data
Gathering Program (ODGP) model, which has been shown to
provide skillful hindcasts of tropical and extratropical
cyclones (Cardone et. al, 1976) as well as a wide range
of non-storm regimes (e.g. Reece and Cardone, 1982).
Dr.
Cardone and Dr. Greenwood later developed a global version
of the FNOC model (GSOWM), which was implemented at FNOC
in 1985 and operated until May 1994. In the early 1980's,
a new second generation wave model (2-G) was developed at
Oceanweather under sponsorship of the U.S. NOAA Sea-Air Interaction
Laboratory (the SAIL model: Greenwood, Cardone and Lawson,
1985). That model was later implemented as NOAA's operational
global model (the NOW model) for real-time analysis and
forecasting, and was implemented as a regional
model by the Norwegian Meteorological Service (the WINCH
model).
Dr.
Cardone participated in the international wave model testing
and intercomparison program known as SWAMP (1985), in which
he designed and evaluated model results for test case 6
(stationary and moving circular wind fields). Simultaneously,
the ODGP model was raised to 2-G standards by
the implementation of an equilibrium range relaxation algorithm.
That model (ODGP-2) has been applied in dozens of studies
worldwide to develop extreme and operational wave statistics.
ODGP-2 continues to provide skillful hindcasts in a wide range
of wave regimes including arctic and sub-arctic basins,
mid-latitude NH and SH regimes, tropical cyclone regimes
and subtropical regimes such as the Gulf of Mexico, South
China Sea and Arabian Gulf (e.g. Cardone et al., 1989; Swail
et al., 1991; Cardone and Ewans, 1992; Eid et al., 1992).
The
activities of the SWAMP group were continued in the 1980's
through an international association of wave modelers known
as the WAM group. Dr. Cardone and Dr. Greenwood were active
members of the WAM group (its only private sector members)
and helped develop and evaluate the third generation (3-G)
WAM model (WAMDI Group, 1988). Oceanweather have also
coded, independently of the WAM group, the OWI3G model which
follows the physical formulation of WAM but
with different numerics and different tuning (Khandekar,
Lalbeharry and Cardone, 1994). That model has been
applied in many hindcasting studies spanning over four decades.
In many
practical applications, wind fields are simply not accurate
enough to justify the application of WAM or the OWI3G model
over Oceanweather's already skillful ODGP-2 model. For example
in Cardone et al. (1996), the performance
of ODGP-2, a different contemporary 2-G model, the fourth
cycle of WAM, and the OWI3G model were evaluated at nine buoys moored
off the East Coast of North America during the "Halloween
Storm" of October 1991 and the "Storm of the
Century" of March 1993. The same winds (prepared by
OWI using kinematic analysis) and grid resolution were used
for all hindcasts. The comprehensive statistical evaluation
showed that OWI ODGP-2 and OWI3G proved at least
as skillful as WAM-4. Therefore, while OWI3G was used for
a new 40-year hindcast of the North Atlantic Ocean for which
wind fields were produced by intensive kinematic analysis
(Swail and Cox, 2000), ODGP2 was utilized for a global 40-year
hindcast driven by adjusted global reanalysis project wind
fields (Cox and Swail, 2001). Finally, it should be noted that the entire
family of Oceanweather wave models all use a common propagation
system which is energy conserving, faithfully simulates
great circle wave propagation paths, and which provides prediction
of swell even after propagation distances of over 5,000
miles (Cardone et al., 1995).
References
1976.
Cardone, V, J., W. J. Pierson and E. G. Ward. Hindcasting
the directional spectra of hurricane generated waves. J.
of Petrol. Tech., 28, 385-394.
1982.
Reece, A. and V. J. Cardone. Test of wave hindcast model
results against measurements during four different meteorological
systems. Offshore Technology Conference 14, OTC #4323.
1985.
Greenwood, J. A., V. J. Cardone and L. M. Lawson. Intercomparison
test version of the SAIL wave model. In Ocean Numerical
Modeling, The SWAMP Group (24 authors). Plenum Press, New
York, 221-233.
1985.
SWAMP Group (24 authors including V. J. Cardone and J. A.
Greenwood) Ocean Numerical Modeling. Plenum Press, New York,
256 pp.
1988.
WAMDI Group (13 authors, including V. J. Cardone and J.
A Greenwood). The WAM model - a third generation ocean wave
prediction model. J. of Phys. Oceanog., 18, 1775-1810.
1989.
Cardone, V. J., D. Szabo, F. J. Dello Stritto. Development
of extreme wind and wave criteria for Hibernia. Preprints
2ND International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting.
Vancouver, BC, April 25-28, 1989. p. 75-88.
1992.
Cardone, V. J. and K. C. Ewans. Validation of the hindcast
approach to the specification of wave conditions at the
Maui location off the west coast of New Zealand. Preprints
of the 3RD International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and
Forecasting. Montreal, Quebec. May 9-22, 1992; p. 232-247.
1992.
Eid, B., V. J. Cardone, and V. K. Swail. Beaufort Sea extreme
wind/wave hindcast study. Preprints of the 3RD International
Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting. Montreal,
Quebec. May 9-22, 1992; p. 351-361.
1994.
Khandekar, M. L., R. Lalbeharry and V. J. Cardone. The performance
of the Canadian spectral ocean wave model (CSOWM) during
the Grand Banks ERS-1 SAR wave spectra validation experiment.
Atmosphere-Ocean, 32, 31-60.
1995.
Cardone, V.J., C.K. Cooper and D. Szabo. A hindcast study
of the extreme wave climate of offshore West Africa (WAX).
Offshore Technology Conference, 27, paper # 7687, 439 -
451.
1996.
Cardone, V. J., R. E. Jensen, D. T. Resio and V. K. Swail,
and A. T. Cox. Evaluation of contemporary ocean wave models
in rare extreme events: "Halloween Storm" of October,
1991; Storm of the Century of March, 1993. Submitted to
J. Atmos. and Ocean. Tech., 13, 198-230.
2000
Swail, V.R. and A.T. Cox. On the use of NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis
Surface Marine Wind Fields for a Long Term North Atlantic
Wave Hindcast. J. Atmo. Tech., Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 532-545
2000
Cox, A.T. and V.R. Swail. A Global Wave Hindcast over the
Period 1958-1997: Validation and Climate Assessment. J.
of Geophys. Res. (Oceans) Vol. 106, No. C2, pp. 2313-2329.
(Oceans).
