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Wave Information Study (WIS)

Category:
Coastal/Ocean
Waves
Last modified: September 19, 2025, 8:54 pm
Wave Information Study (WIS)
Description

The Wave Information Study (WIS) is a global hindcast system that focuses on delivering high-quality coastal wave estimates, wave analyzes products, and decision tools nationwide. WIS uses third generation phase average wave modeling to produce deterministic, long-term (1980 - to date) wave records along all U.S. coastlines. WIS is forced with high-resolution wind fields, with improved representation of the biggest storms, and mean daily ice concentration fields (where appropriate). WIS estimates are extensively evaluated with point-source measurements (Hall and Jensen, 2022a, 2022b) and satellite-based altimetry (Collins and Hesser, 2021), to ensure quality. Hindcast data are provided as hourly wave information (directional-spectra) for locations every few miles along the coast. The long-term hindcast wave data are accessible through a website that facilitates analysis and downloads (https://wisportal.erdc.dren.mil). These multi-decade hindcasts archives are generated to meet tomorrow's coastal engineering needs today, from regional wave climatologies, to localized engineering design wave climate requirements.

Key features of WIS:

  • WIS provides long-term (~1980) wave estimates along all US coasts, including the Great Lakes, for pre-selected output locations
  • Hindcast wave estimates (height, wave period, and direction) and directional spectral estimates.
  • Value-added (Oceanweather Inc.) NCEP/NCAR Re-Analysis-1 (Kalany et al., 1996) and ERA5 (Hersbach et al., 2019) winds drive the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Western Alaska hindcasts. The Coastal Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR, Saha, et al. 2010; 2014) drives the Gulf of Mexico hindcasts. Details of these wind field methodologies are found on the WIS website (https://wis.erdc.dren.mil/index.html).
  • WIS Western Alaska and Great Lakes require estimates of temporal and spatial variation in the ice fields for the respective domains. The ice concentration fields are based on long-term data archives, (Western Alaska from CFSR; Great Lakes from NOAA- Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA/GLERL; https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/).
  • WIS uses WAM (Kamen et al, 1994; WAMDIG, 1988) for the Great Lakes, Alaska and Gulf of Mexico domains. WIS uses WAVEWATCH II® (WW3DG, 2019; Tolman, 2014) for the Atlantic, and Pacific domains.
  • WIS hindcasts are accessible directly from the WIS CHL Data Server (https://chldata.erdc.dren.mil) or the WIS Portal (https://wisportal.erdc.dren.mil).
  • The WIS Portal offers the time series of wind and bulk wave properties (height, period, and direction), along with analysis tools (mean, max and occurrence tables, extremal analyzes etc.) that enable the user to generate output products (tabular and/or graphical form).

Keywords:

WIS, waves, wind, significant wave height, wave period, mean wave period, peak wave period, mean wave direction, directional spectra, wave climate, historical waves, wind speed, wind direction

Point of Contact: 
WISinfo@usace.army.mil

Software

The WIS hindcasts are available for use by academic, government, and the private sector researchers at no charge for research and educational purposes. WIS hindcasts are accessible directly from the WIS CHL Data Server, https://chldata.erdc.dren.mil, or the WIS Portal, https://wisportal.erdc.dren.mil. A WIS API interface is also available at https://wisportal.erdc.dren.mil/wis-api/apidocs/.

Documentation
Coastal/Ocean
Waves
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Use Cases and Publications

Recent USACE Reports

  • Hall, C. & Jensen, R.E., (2022). USAGE QCC NDBC Measurement Archive. ERDC Knowledge Core, Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory,  https://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/43121 
  • Collins, C.O. and Hesser, T.J. (2021) altWiz: A System for Satellite Radar Altimeter Evaluation of Modeled Wave Heights. ERDC/CHL CHETN-IV-127. Vicksburg, MS: U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, https://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/39699 
  • Hall, C., and Jensen, R.E., (2021). Utilizing Data from the NOAA National Data Buoy Center. ERDC/CHL CHETN-I-100. Vicksburg, MS: U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, https://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/40059

Recent Journal Publications

  • Collins, C.O. & Jensen, R.E., (2022). Tilt Error in NDBC OceanWave Height Records. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, pp. 915-928, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-21-0079.1 
  • Hall, C., Jensen, R.E., (2022). USAGE Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory Quality Controlled, Consistent Measurement Archive. Sci Data 9,248, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01344-z 
  • Hall, C., Jensen, R.E., and Wang, D.W., (2022). Performance Evaluation of the Newly Operational NDBC 2.1-m Hull, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 39(6), 861-880,  https://doi.org /10.1175/JTECH-D-21-0172.1 
  • Hall, C., Jensen, R.E., and Wang, D.W., (2022). Wave power trends along the U.S. coastline: in situ measurements and model hindcast estimates. Ocean Dynamics 72, 495-521, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-022-01515-x 
  • Collins C, Hesser T, Rogowski P, and Merrifield S., (2021) Altimeter Observations of Tropical Cyclone-generated Sea States: Spatial Analysis and Operational Hindcast Evaluation. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 9(2):216, https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9020216 
  • Jensen, R.E., V. Swail, R.H. Bouchard, (2021). Quantifying wave measurement differences in historical and present wave buoy systems. Ocean Dynamics 71, 731-755, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-021-01461-0 
  • Rogowski P, Merrifield S, Collins C, Hesser T, Ho A, Bucciarelli R, Behrens J, and Terrill E., (2021) Performance Assessments of Hurricane Wave Hindcasts. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. 9(7):690, https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070690 

References

  • Collins Ill, C.O. and T. Hesser, (2021). altWIZ: A System for Satellite Radar Altimeter Evaluation of Modeled Wave Heights, ERDC/CHL CHETN -I V-1 27, Vicksburg, MS: U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/39699.
  • Hall, C. & R.E. Jensen. 2022a. USAGE Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory Quality Controlled, Consistent Measurement Archive. Scientific Data 9:248.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01344-z 
  • Hall, C. & R.E. Jensen. 2022b. USAGE QCC NDBC Measurement Archive. ERDC Knowledge Core, Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/43121
  • Hersbach et al., (2019), The ERAS global reanalysis, Q JR Meteorol Soc., 146:1999-2049.
  • Kalany, E. et al., (1996), The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 77, No. 3, 437-472.
  • Kamen, G. J., L. Cavaleri, M. Donelan, K. Hasselmann, S. Hasselmann, and P.A. E. M. Janssen, (1994), Dynamics and Modelling of Ocean Waves. Cambridge University Press, 532 pp.
  • Saha, S. et al., (2010). The NCEP climate forecast system reanalysis, AMS, BAMS, Vol 91, Issue 8, 1015-1058, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010BAMS3001.1 
  • Saha et al., (2014). The NCEP climate forecast system version 2, Journal of Climate, Vol 27, 2185-2208, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00823.1 
  • WAMDI Group, (1988). TheWAM model-A third generation ocean wave prediction model, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 18, 1775-1810.
  • WW3DG, (2014). User manual and system documentation of WAVEWATCH Ill version 4.18, Tech. Note 316.

A list of all WIS related reports, published journal articles, and presentations can be found at: https://wis.erdc.dren.mil/wis_publications.html 

Community Test Cases

Users do not test the modeling capabilities of the WIS hindcast. They simply use the data.

Software Revision Discussion

The User Interface was updated in 2025. The new interface delivers a more streamlined and efficient user experience with improved navigation, optimized functionality across devices, and improved system maintenance. A list of upgrades and added capabilities is available via the URL: https://wis.erdc.dren.mi./portal_update.html/

The new WIS Data Portal was launched in 2022. The new system provides many advantages over the previous system. Additional WIS Portal enhancements are currently under construction.

New Capabilities

  • Now Available: Dynamic production of Mean Max and Extremes Analysis tables and plots with the latest estimates.
  • Under construction: Dynamic extractions of 2D spectra for user-specified ranges of time (limited to one year per request due to file sizes).
  • Under construction: Upgrade to allow extraction of 2D spectra forcing files for model input.

The Portal is available from the menu above or via the URL: https://wisportal.erdc.dren.mil