Extreme waves in the Arabian Gulf

The extreme significant wave heights were predicted for return periods of 12, 25, 50, 100 and 200 years for 38 different locations in the territorial and offshore locations of various countries in the Arabian Gulf (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Iran). The input wave data for the work was obtained by hindcasting of waves, using a WAM model. Wave data was hindcasted for a total period of 12 years, starting from 1^st Jan, 1993 to 31st Dec, 2004. The peak over threshold method, with 1.0 m as threshold value was used for selecting the data for the extreme wave analysis. In general, Weibull distribution is found to fit the data well compared to the Gumbel distribution for all these locations. It is found that the significant wave heights for 100 year return period varies from 3.0 to 4.5 for water depths of 9 to 16 m, whereas in the offshore sites it is found to vary from 5.0 to 7.0 m, where the water depth varies from 30 to 60 m. A large number of coastal projects are in progress in the Arabian Gulf and many new projects are being planned in this region for the future. The results presented in this paper will be useful for optimal design of the ocean structures in the Arabian Gulf region.