This book is intended to provide uniform and concise information necessary to comprehend stochastic analyss and probabilistic prediction of wind-generated ocean waves.

Description and assessment of wind-generated ocean waves provide information vital for the design and operation of marine systems such as ships and ocean and coastal structures. Wind-generated seas continuously vary over a wide range of severity depending on geographical location, season, presence of tropical cyclones, etc. Furthermore, the wave profile in a given sea state is extremely irregular in time and space — any sense of regularity is totally absent, and thereby properties of waves cannot be readily defined on a wave-by-wave basis.

Characterization of the stochastic properties of ocean waves was first presented in the early 1950s; Neumann (1953), Pierson (1952, 1955), St Denis and Pierson (1953) introduced the stochastic approach for analysis of random seas, and Longuet-Higgins (1952) demonstrated the probabilistic estimation of random wave height. The four decades following the introduction of the stochastic prediction approach have seen phenomenal advances in the probabilistic analysis and prediction methodologies of random seas.

For the design of marine systems, information on the real world is required. Recent advances in technology permit the use of the probabilistic approach to estimate the responses of marine systems in a seaway, including extreme values, with reasonable accuracy.