Short-term statistics of waves measured off Ratnagiri, eastern Arabian Sea

•Short-term statistics of waves analyzed based on measured buoy data at 13 m depth.•Observed Hmax as a function of duration are not consistent with expected value.•Bivariate log-normal distribution represents joint distribution of height and period.

The short-term wave characteristics are required for design and operation of industrial facilities within the coastal areas. Water surface displacement measured using waverider buoy moored at 13 m water depth in the eastern Arabian Sea off the west coast of India have been analyzed to study the short-term statistics of waves covering full one year period. The study indicates that the values of the observed maximum wave height as a function of duration are not consistent with the theoretical expected value. There is significant variation (1.29–2.19) in the ratio between highest 1% wave and significant wave height compared to the theoretical value of 1.67. The data recorded at 13 m water depth indicates that the significant wave height is ∼8% lower than that predicted by the conventional Rayleigh distribution. The theoretical bivariate log-normal distribution represents the joint distributions of wave heights and periods for the study area.