Variation of the wave energy and significant wave height in the China Sea and adjacent waters

Given the current background of ongoing environmental and resource issues, the increased exploitation of clean and renewable energy could help to alleviate the energy crisis, as well as contributing to emissions reduction and environmental protection, and so promote future sustainable development. This study explores to reveal the climatic long term trends of the China Sea wave power and significant wave height (SWH) for the period 1988–2011, using a WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) hindcast wave data. The regional difference and seasonal difference of the variation are also presented firstly. Results show that, (1) The China Sea exhibits a significant overall increasing trend in the wave power density (0.2012 (kW/m)/yr) and the SWH (1.52 cm/yr) for the period 1988 to 2011. (2) There is a noticeable increasing trend in most parts of the China Sea, of 0.1–0.7 (kW/m)/yr in wave power density and 0.5–4.5 cm/yr in SWH. Areas with strong increasing trend distribute in the Ryukyu Islands waters, Taiwan Strait and north of the South China Sea (SCS), especially in the Dongsha Islands waters. (3) There is a noticeable seasonal difference in the variation of both SWH and wave power density. The variation in different waters is dominated by the different seasons. The increasing trend of SWH in DJF and MAM is obviously stronger than that in JJA and SON. The increasing trend of wave power density in DJF is stronger than that in other seasons.