Discussion of “a Multi-distribution Approach to POT Methods for Determining Extreme Wave Heights” by Mazas and Hamm, [Coastal Engineering, 58:385–394]

The authors proposed a double-threshold method to extract statistically independent storm wave data from historical time-series wave records for extreme wave analysis. The maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) was preferred for estimation of the distribution parameters of the Weibull, Pearson-III and GPD. This discussion is to comment on if the use of the double-threshold method and the MLE will actually improve the accuracy of extreme wave heights estimated. The storm wave datasets used in this discussion are from a 23-year time-series wave record collected off the coast of Sydney in the Tasman Sea and the second storm wave dataset of Mazas and Hamm (2011) who kindly provided the dataset to the discusser. For consistency, the notations used in this discussion will be the same as those defined by the authors.