The use of vertical and horizontal accelerations of a floating buoy for the determination of directional wave spectra in coastal zones

A parametric method is presented for calculating the directional wave spectrum from vertical and horizontal accelerations of a floating buoy. These measurements are obtained from accelerometers attached on board the buoys of the POSEIDON network. The method assumes the superposition of two independent wave trains giving a better approach to the multidirectional nature of the wave field. A general purpose software module called WaveAna has been developed which can process horizontal and vertical displacements of floating buoys. The functionality of WaveAna is shown with the measured data from the POSEIDON network and the determination of wind generated waves and swell is demonstrated.