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The response of the wave climate to tropical cyclones (TCs) is investigated using the significant wave height (SWH) observed from satellites and the WAVEWATCH III (WW3) model. Tropical cyclone wind generates local waves (wind seas) under the TC and longer-period waves (swells) that propagate long distances. The genesis location, intensity, and frequency of tropical cyclones over the global ocean are strongly affected by the phases of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). It is shown that the interannual variation of global ocean surface waves in the subtropics during summer is dominated by ENSO-related TC activity. In particular, in the subtropical western North Pacific, the wind power is stronger in the TC season before an El Niño and weaker before a La Niña. These ENSO-related TC variations are shown, through composite and empirical orthogonal function analyses, as well as modeling, to dominate the spatial distribution and temporal variation of the SWH over the western North Pacific. The model confirms that longer-period waves (swells) are driven into northern South China Sea, toward Japan in mid latitudes and toward the central Pacific along the equator due to ENSO-related TC activities. The wind power and SWH over the subtropical western North Pacific lead and regress well with the ENSO index, suggesting that they may potentially serve as useful ENSO predictors.

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 (2018): 6042-6052, doi:10.1029/2018JC014410., Similar to the construction of physical ships and laboratory buildings, scientific knowledge is built incrementally and requires solid components of data, theory, and methodology at each phase of the “construction.” The peer‐review process provides the necessary “inspection” and the assurance that every step of the construction is solid, particularly in regard to the proper use of the scientific method. The peer‐review process helps improve the published work by providing constructive suggestions and by safeguarding against scientific work that could later be found to be built on shaky foundations. Because no single scientist has intimate knowledge of today's many aspects of the Ocean Sciences, we rely on each other's expertise to serve as unbiased “inspectors” of published articles. Your considerable time and effort, spent reviewing JGR‐Oceans manuscript(s) during 2017, are sincerely appreciated by our editorial board and by the Ocean Science community at large. We thank you for rising to this professional challenge and for your wisdom, commitment, skill, and service., 2019-03-19

Wind-wave interaction in the Western Mediterranean Sea is analyzed using 16 years of model data. The mass transport and energy distribution due to wind and waves are integrated through the Ekman-Stokes layer and then spatially and seasonally analyzed. The Stokes drift is estimated from an empirical parameterization accounting for local surface wind and the significant wave height. The impact of the Stokes drift depends on wind variability at the ocean surface and also on the geographical configuration of the basin. The Western Mediterranean Sea has on average a wind energy input two times higher in winter than in summer, and the Stokes-Ekman mass transport interaction term contributes approximately 10-15% of the total wind induced transport, but at some locations the contribution is as much as 40% or more.