Extreme Waves and Rayleigh Distribution in the South Atlantic Ocean Near the Northeast Coast of Brazil

ABSTRACT

In this brief communication we present the first result on what have we learned from a long, virtually continuously recorded wave height data set. The data was recorded by Petrobras on a mobile platform located on the northeast Brazilian coast. We found the well-known Rayleigh relation, H_max/H_s = [ln (N)/2]^½, fits the data real well for H_max/H_s up to about 2.2, but diverges distinctly when H_max/H_s values grow larger. An empirical relation for larger H_max/H_s can be empirically represented by H_max/H_s = [ln(N²)/2]^¼ .