Spectral wave climate of the North Sea

This paper proposes a methodology to classify the wave spectra occurring at a given location in five different spectral types of shapes. It proposes a numerical procedure to identify the various wave systems in complex spectra and to classify them in classes. Statistics are obtained for the frequencies of each spectral type and for the transition probabilities from one class to another. It is shown that the spatial distribution of the relative frequencies of spectral types allows the understanding of the patterns of propagation of swell in ocean areas.