Estimating surge in extreme North Sea storms

From offshore radar-based measurements at locations in the northern, central and southern North Sea, we observe that characteristics of surge and significant wave height vary with wave direction at all locations. Surge is a larger contributor to extreme seas in the southern North Sea than in the northern North Sea in particular. There is evidence that extremal dependence between surge characteristics and significant wave height also varies with storm direction. Hence, the size of surge contribution to return values of total water level also varies with storm direction and location.