Wave Power Density Hotspot Distribution and Correlation Pattern Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico
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abstract
Wave energy has been studied and explored because of its enormous potential to supply electricity for human activities. However, the uncertainty of its spatial and temporal variations increases the difficulty of harvesting wave energy commercially. There are no large-scale wave converters in commercial operation yet. A thorough understanding of wave energy dynamic behaviors will definitely contribute to the acceleration of wave energy harvesting. In this paper, about 40 years of meteorological data from the Gulf of Mexico were obtained, visualized, and analyzed to reveal the wave power density hotspot distribution pattern, and its correlation with ocean surface water temperatures and salinities. The collected geospatial data were first visualized in MATLAB. The visualized data were analyzed using the deep learning method to identify the wave power density hotspots in the Gulf of Mexico. By adjusting the temporal and spatial resolutions of the different datasets, the correlations between the number of hotspots and their strength levels and the surface temperatures and salinities are revealed. The R value of the correlation between the wave power density hotspots and the salinity changes from 0.371 to 0.885 in a negative direction, and from 0.219 to 0.771 in a positive direction. For the sea surface temperatures, the R values range from 0.474 to 0.393. Certain areas within the Gulf of Mexico show relatively strong correlations, which may be useful for predicting the wave energy behavior and change patterns.
