Testing High Directional Resolution Sea-Spectrum Estimation Methods in View of the Needs of a National Monitoring System

Marine buoy networks aim to establish a near real-time data flow of sea conditions, with a possible direct interface for applications and services devoted to marine weather networks, resulting in an expected significant impact on safety and efficiency. With this perspective, this article analyzes several methods for the estimation of directional wave spectra from buoys data, with a special focus on directional resolution. Four methods are implemented and compared, namely, the weighted truncated Fourier series, two variations of the Maximum Entropy Approach, and the Maximum Likelihood Method. Both simulated and real experimental data are used. The comparison results are reported and the consequent guidelines for their use are provided.