1678 JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24

Analysis of Abnormal Wave Records by the Hilbert–Huang Transform Method

ALBENA D. VELTCHEVA*
Institute of Oceanology-Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Varna, Bulgaria

C. GUEDES SOARES
Unit of Marine Technology and Engineering, Technical University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal

(Manuscript received 17 January 2006, in final form 5 October 2006)

ABSTRACT

The Hilbert–Huang transform method is used in this work to analyze wave records from the North Sea,
which include abnormal waves. The analysis of the characteristics of abnormal waves is based on the local
decomposition of wave data by using the intrinsic mode functions. The variations of amplitude of intrinsic
mode functions around the time of the occurrence of abnormal waves are examined in order to investigate
the contribution of different intrinsic mode functions on the abnormal waves’ profile, in an attempt to find
relationships between them. The changes of local frequency of each intrinsic mode function in the vicinity
of abnormal waves are examined. The essential nonlinearity of abnormal waves is considered as intrawave
frequency modulation, a variation of the instantaneous frequency within one oscillation cycle. The Hilbert
spectrum is used as a detector of abnormal waves.

1. Introduction normal waves as the ones with a height that would be

Abnormal, freak, or rogue waves are local, primary
transient phenomena with uncertain and unpredictable
occurrence. A while ago, Draper (1964) referred to the
existence of freak waves, but until recently they were
thought to rarely occur and very little was known about
their characteristics. During the last several years, vari-
ous research groups have studied freak, rogue, or ab-
normal waves. While in earlier publications these waves
were designated as freak, later the designation of rogue
waves was adopted. However, as these waves are being
defined as the ones that are outside of the normal popu-
lation of expected waves, they are also called abnormal
waves. In general all these terms have been used by
different authors to designate essentially the same type
of waves.
Dean (1990) was probably the first who defined ab-
* Current affiliation: ECOH Corporation, Yokohama, Japan.
Corresponding author address: C. Guedes Soares, Unit of Ma-
rine Technology and Engineering, Technical University of Lisbon,
Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon,
Portugal.
E-mail: guedess@mar.ist.utl.pt
outside the normally expected ones within the estab-
lished linear wave theory. Based on 20-min duration
and the Rayleigh model for the probability distribu-
tions of wave heights, he concluded that in cases where
the wave height was greater than twice the significant
wave height, the wave would be considered abnormal.
The value of this ratio, which was later called the ab-
normality or amplification index (AI), is thus related to
the duration of a sea state and a probability level, al-
though there is no strong reason why 2.0 was chosen
instead, for example, of 1.9, 2.1, or a similar number. In
fact, different authors tend to adopt different reference
numbers, and a review of the various criteria being used
can be found in Clauss (2002) and in Guedes Soares et
al. (2003).
The study of this type of wave has been given a new
impetus by the identification of such waves in full-scale
wave records as reported by Haver and Karunakaran
(1998), Mori et al. (2002), and Guedes Soares et al.
(2003, 2004a), among others.
The effort to understand the nature of these waves
has shown that various mechanisms can generate this
type of very large waves as reviewed by Kharif and
Pelinovsky (2003). In general, it is accepted that they
are a result of nonlinear interactions that transform lo-

DOI: 10.1175/JTECH2067.1

© 2007 American Meteorological Society

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JTECH2067
SEPTEMBER 2007 VELTCHEVA AND GUEDES SOARES
cal wave groups in such a way that at a certain occasion
one single large wave is formed and disappears after a
while. Several authors, such as Trulsen and Dysthe
(1997), Osborne (2000), and Slunyaev et al. (2005),
have studied the propagation of wave groups using dif-
ferent mathematical theories that are able to explain
how they develop into a very large wave.
An investigation of the local properties of sea waves
is necessary in order to try to identify any mechanism
that may develop prior to the creation of an abnormal
wave and in this way contribute to the understanding of
what happens in reality. The widely used Fourier spec-
tral analysis is inappropriate to analyze the local con-
ditions associated with the occurrence of abnormal
waves, as it provides no useful information about time
variation of wave characteristics. Also, in Fourier-based
analysis, as well as in almost all of the conventional
methods for wave data analysis, the wave process is
assumed to be stationary and linear, while an abnormal
wave is typically a nonstationary and nonlinear event.
Furthermore, the parameters of water waves, deter-
mined by Fourier spectra, are integral characteristics of
sea states and their local time variations are impossible
to be tracked.
The time distribution of energy is needed, comple-
mentary to the frequency distribution for the detection
of the occurrence of abnormal waves both in the fre-
quency and time domains. There are several Fourier-
based methods for frequency–time distribution of the
energy like time window–width Fourier transform
(Guedes Soares and Cherneva 2005), evolutionary
spectrum, principal component analysis, or wavelet
analysis (Liu and Mori 2000).
These methods suffer from the demerits of Fourier
spectral analysis for the purpose of determining the
characteristics of abnormal waves, such as the global
definition of harmonic components and their linear su-
perposition for decomposition of the data, thus assum-
ing the stationarity and linearity of data. There is also a
resolution problem inherent in all Fourier-based analy-
sis due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Wave-
let analyses provide some improvement of the resolu-
tion by utilization of adjustable windows, but the prob-
lems caused by the nonadaptive nature of these
windows and the leakage of energy have still not been
completely solved.
Wavelet transform analysis has been used by Liu and
Mori (2000) to analyze abnormal wave records, and
although the abnormal wave is identified from a wave-
let spectrum, there are some limitations of wavelet
analysis, as discussed by Schlurmann (2002). The pre-
liminary choice of a mother wavelet leads to some sub-
jective, a priori assumption on the characteristics of the
1679
investigated phenomenon. Wu and Yao (2004) ana-
lyzed the laboratory-generated abnormal waves, inter-
acting with currents, and stressed that the detection of
higher, steeper freak waves using the Fourier spectrum
is a challenging task.
Cherneva and Guedes Soares (2007) have adopted
nonlinear spectral analysis and have shown that with
the use of bispectrum it is possible to identify second-
order nonlinear wave interactions in sea states with
high skewness that can occur during severe storms.
However, since the power spectrum suppresses all
phase relations, it cannot be used to analyze the phase
coupling. The nonlinear interactions between harmonic
components induce certain phase relations that can be
studied by the local frequency even in deep-water
waves (Cherneva and Guedes Soares 2001), which was
shown not to follow a uniform distribution in the sea
states with abnormal waves.
An adequately chosen method for the analysis of ab-
normal wave records is necessary in order to obtain the
correct knowledge of this transient event. A nonlinear
and nonstationary method for data analysis is probably
better suited for the study of the nonlinear and nonsta-
tionary nature of abnormal waves. This was the moti-
vation to apply the Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT)
method, a comparatively new method for nonlinear and
nonstationary time series analysis to study abnormal
wave records.
The HHT method, introduced by Huang et al.
(1998), differs from all previous methods for nonsta-
tionary and nonlinear data analysis by its unique ap-
proach for data processing. The key part of this method
is the empirical mode decomposition (EMD), which
identifies the specific local time scales and extracts
them into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). The instan-
taneous frequency, determined by the Hilbert trans-
form of IMF, provides a much sharper identification of
the embedded events. The frequency–time distribution
of the wave energy, designated as a Hilbert spectrum,
provides an overall view of the variation of energy with
time and frequency.
In comparison with wavelet and Fourier analysis, the
HHT method offers much better temporal and fre-
quency resolution. The Hilbert spectrum pointed to the
local, not global, peculiarities of energy and is therefore
a perfect tool for identification of abnormal wave oc-
currence in time and frequency. It stresses that the re-
cent developments of the HHT method, namely, the
confidence limit of EMD, the normalized HHT, and the
statistical significance of IMF, presented in Wu and
Huang (2004), Huang et al. (2003), and Huang (2005),
which are adopted here, improve considerably the pre-
cision and reliability of the HHT method.
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1680 JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY
In this study, the HHT method for nonlinear and
nonstationary time series analysis is used to study wave
records measured in the North Sea, which included ab-
normal waves. The essential nonlinearity of abnormal
waves is examined by the HHT method. The Fourier-
based methods presented nonlinearity by introducing
many harmonics to describe the distorted waveform.
These harmonics are mathematically necessary but
have no physical meaning. The nonlinearity of sea
waves is considered by the HHT method as intrawave
frequency modulation, which is a variation of the in-
stantaneous frequency within one oscillation cycle. Wu
and Yao (2004) found a strong correlation between the
magnitude of intrawave instantaneous frequency
modulation and the wave nonlinearity in their study of
freak waves by the HHT method.
The characteristics of the largest waves in the storm
sea states had been examined by Guedes Soares et al.
(2004b) and new parameters, characterizing the asym-
metry and steepness of abnormal waves, were proposed
and examined by Guedes Soares et al. (2003). In this
paper six of those time series are examined, four with
single abnormal waves and the remainder with an ab-
normal wave imbedded in a group. As the various nu-
merical studies referred to earlier have shown, single
abnormal waves are the result of the evolution of a
group, and it is considered that records that do not
show a single wave but present a group are simply in a
different state of the evolution process. The choice of
the two types of wave situations aimed at verifying
whether different characteristics would be apparent be-
tween the two types of situations.
For each of the six wave records used in this study, a
confidence limit for EMD is initially determined ac-
cording to Huang et al. (2003). The characteristics of
abnormal waves are examined on the basis of local de-
composition of wave data into IMF. The significance of
the information extracted in different IMFs is verified
by comparing the characteristics of each IMF with
those of white noise. The variations of the amplitude of
the IMFs around the time of occurrence of abnormal
waves are examined in order to investigate the contri-
bution of the different IMFs to the abnormal wave pro-
file, and an attempt is made to find a relationship be-
tween them. The changes of local frequency of each
IMF in the vicinity of an abnormal wave are examined.
The instantaneous frequency is determined with preci-
sion by using the normalized HHT procedure. The pe-
culiarities of the decomposition of an abnormal wave
appearing in a group of several high waves and as an
isolated single wave are examined here. The Hilbert
spectrum is proposed to identify abnormal waves in
wave records.
VOLUME 24
2. Hilbert–Huang transform method
The Hilbert–Huang transform method provides a
novel approach for nonlinear and nonstationary data
processing. The HHT consists of the EMD and the Hil-
bert spectral analysis. The EMD relies on data sifting
according to the time scale. A time interval between
successive extremes in a time series is defined as a time
scale. This is the essence of the EMD. The main idea of
EMD is first to identify the time scale that will reveal
the physical characteristics of the process recorded as a
time series and to extract them into IMFs. The EMD is
a data-sifting process to eliminate locally riding waves
as well as to eliminate locally the asymmetry of the time
series profile. A procedure for EMD and several appli-
cations of the HHT method are presented in Huang et
al. (1998, 1999).
The time series X(t) is first decomposed by EMD
into a finite number n IMF Cj, j ⫽ 1, n, which extract
the energy associated with various intrinsic time scales
and residue rn. The superposition of the IMF and the
residue reconstruct the data record:
n
X共t兲 ⫽ 兺 C 共t兲 ⫹ r 共t兲.
j⫽1
j n 共1兲
An IMF is defined as a function, having the same
number of extremes and zero crossings, and at any
point the mean value of the upper envelope, defined by
the local maxima and the down envelope defined by the
local minima, is zero. These upper and lower envelopes
are determined by using cubic splines. The important
condition for an IMF is that only one maximum or
minimum exists between successive zeros. The empiri-
cal mode decomposition is an iterative process where
envelopes and their mean values are used to decom-
pose the original data into frequency components, in
sequence from the highest to the lowest frequency. The
sifting process of the EMD is repeated until some con-
ditions, known as a stopping criterion, are satisfied.
The stopping criterion is an important step in the
HHT method in order to obtain physical meaningful
IMF. Generally, there are many ways to decompose
one given time series into different components. Even
using EMD, the different sets of IMF can be obtained
by changing the stopping criteria. The first stoppage
criterion, proposed by Huang et al. (1998), is similar to
the Cauchy convergence test, but later (Huang et al.
1999) it was replaced by the so-called simplified stop-
page criterion, which on its side was revised by Huang
et al. (2003) and substituted by a confidence limit for
the EMD. The effect of the stopping criterion on the
characteristics of the extracted IMFs was examined by
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SEPTEMBER 2007 VELTCHEVA AND GUEDES SOARES
Pascoal et al. (2005). The last criterion, that is, the con-
fidence limit for the EMD, is applied here.
The set of IMFs is unique and specific for the par-
ticular time series, since it is based on and derived from
the local characteristics of these data. The components
of the EMD are usually physically meaningful, as the
characteristic scales are defined by the physical data.
The IMF could be considered as a more general case of
the simple harmonic functions, but it can be claimed
that, due to their specific derivation, IMFs also have a
physical meaning in addition to the mathematical one.
In the second step of data analysis, the Hilbert trans-
form is applied to these IMF:
冕 ⬁
1 Cj共t⬘兲
Ĉj共t兲 ⫽ P dt⬘,
␲ ⫺⬁ t ⫺ t⬘
where P indicates the Cauchy principal value. The am-
plitude aj, the phase ␸j, and the instantaneous fre-
quency ␻j are calculated by
aj共t兲 ⫽ 公C 共t兲 ⫹ Ĉ 共t兲,
2
j
2
j 共3兲
␸j共t兲 ⫽ arctg 冋 册 Ĉ共t兲
C共t兲
, and
d␸j共t兲
␻j共t兲 ⫽ . 共5兲
dt
Using (3)–(5) the original data X(t) can be expressed as
a real part (Re) of the complex expansion
兺 a 共t兲e 冕
n theorem. To satisfy those requirements, Huang (2005)
i ␻j共t兲 dt
X共t兲 ⫽ Re j ,
j⫽1
which is considered as a generalized form of the Fourier
expansion. Here both amplitude aj(t) and instantaneous
frequency ␻j(t) are functions of time t in contrast with
the constant amplitude and frequency in the Fourier
expansion. With the IMF expansion, the amplitude and
frequency modulations are clearly separated.
The intrinsic mode functions, by definition, always
have positive frequencies, because the oscillations in
IMF are symmetric with respect to the local mean and
consequently they admit well-behaved Hilbert trans-
forms. The IMFs provide sharp identifications of im-
bedded structures in the data time series. The instanta-
neous frequency, determined by (5), is precise in both
time and frequency domain; it breaks through the limi-
tation of the uncertainty principle, inherited in the Fou-
rier transform pairs or Fourier-type transform pairs,
such as the wavelet transform. The previous attempts to
determine the instantaneous frequency by performing
the Hilbert transform directly from the original data
time series (Melville 1983; Huang et al. 1992; Cohen
1681
1995; Cherneva and Veltcheva 1995) led to negative
local frequencies. The real advantage of the Hilbert
transform for determination of the instantaneous fre-
quency became obvious after Huang et al. (1998) intro-
duced the EMD.
The frequency–time distribution of the amplitudes or
squared amplitudes was designated by Huang et al.
(1998, 1999) as a Hilbert amplitude spectrum or Hilbert
energy spectrum, respectively. In this study, the Hilbert
energy spectrum, determined as frequency–time distri-
bution of the squared amplitude, is used. For simplicity,
the Hilbert energy spectrum is denoted as Hilbert spec-
trum.
The HHT is a direct method for the analysis of non-
共2兲 linear and nonstationary data, and its basis is a poste-
riori, adaptive, and may or may not be linear; the fre-
quency is derived by differentiation rather than by con-
volution; therefore, it is not limited by the uncertainty
principle.
The basic development of the HHT method has been
followed by some improvements in the area of the nor-
malized Hilbert transform and the statistical signifi-
共4兲
cance of the IMFs.
The Hilbert transform exists for any function, but the
obtained phase function will not always yield a physical
meaningful instantaneous frequency as discussed by
Veltcheva and Guedes Soares (2004). In addition to the
requirement of being an IMF, which is only a necessary
condition, additional limitations have been summarized
in two theorems, the Bedrosian theorem and the Nuttal
共6兲 proposed the normalization of the IMF by dividing it by
the envelope of the IMF. As an important measure of
the correctness of the extracted IMF, a time variable
error index EI is introduced as
EI共t兲 ⫽ 关Aj 共t兲 ⫺ 1兴2, 共7兲
where Aj(t) ⫽ Cj(t)/RCj(t) is the normalized IMF Cj and
RCj(t) is an envelope of the Cj IMF.
The statistical significance of the IMF is another im-
portant question. It is necessary in data processing to
ensure confidence in the separation of the noise from
the useful information. This question was addressed by
both Flandrin et al. (2004) and Wu and Huang (2004)
through the study of noise signals. Wu and Huang
(2004) studied statistical properties of the scattering of
the Gaussian white noise data and deduced a 99%
bound for the white noise. They concluded that when a
dataset is analyzed with EMD, if the mean period and
rms values of IMF exist within the noise band, the ex-
tracted components most likely represent noise. On the
other hand, the IMF, whose energy and period exceed
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1682 JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24

the noise bound, is considered to contain statistically

significant information.

3. Data
Six records of sea surface elevation containing abnor-
mal waves are used in this study. This dataset was col-
lected at the North Alwyn fixed steel jacket platform in
the northern North Sea at a depth of about 130 m and
has already been studied by Guedes Soares et al.
(2004b). During the storm of 16–22 November 1997,
421 recordings using a laser altimeter of the northeast
corner monitor were stored. Each record is 20 min at a
sampling rate of 0.2 s.
The largest wave in the record appears as a very high
wave in the vicinity of comparatively lower waves in
four wave records. For convenience this type of abnor-
mal wave is called a single abnormal wave. Four out of
the six records contain this type of abnormal wave. Fig-
ure 1a presents a wave record (NA9711200151) with
abnormal wave of about 375 s, which is well distin-
guished with large wave height and contrasts with the
waves immediately before and after it.
The extreme wave in the other two wave records is
accompanied by high waves that precede and succeed
the extreme wave. The appearance of this type of ab-
normal wave is called an abnormal wave group and an
example record (NA9711200731) is show in Fig. 1b.
The highest wave in the record is surrounded by neigh-
boring high waves. The profile of the abnormal wave is
more symmetric relative to the zero level, if the abnor-
mal wave appears as the largest wave in a group. The
single large wave is characterized by a sharp crest with
a height higher than the preceding or succeeding trough FIG. 1. Abnormal wave data for records (a) NA9711200151 and
height. (b) NA9711200731.

and is presented as a function of the stopping number S

4. Results of HHT data analysis
The EMD method was applied to six wave records
and an IMF set was determined for each of them. First,
the confidence limit for the EMD is determined. The
sifting process of EMD was stopped when the number
of extremes equaled the number of zero crossings for S
successive sifting steps. Here EMD was performed for
10 selected numbers of stopping number S. The squared
deviations (sds) of the individual cases from an en-
semble mean for the 10 Hilbert spectra of records
(NA9711200151 and NA9711200731) are presented in
Fig. 2.
The orthogonality of the obtained basis is quantified
as the orthogonal index (OI)
also in Fig. 2. The OI provides a criterion to reject those
IMF sets that are nonorthogonal.
The range of stopping number S, where the squared
deviation has a minimal difference from the computed
ensemble mean, is determined for each record. For the
record NA9711200151, a minimal sd range of param-
eter S is 7–10, while for record NA9711200731 it is 8–10.
The OI also has low values for these values of S and
thus the obtained sets of IMF could also be considered
orthogonal for these values of S. All wave records are
first analyzed in this way to determine the confidence
limit for the empirical mode decomposition.
The detailed results of the decomposition of record
NA9711200151 into 10 IMF and the residue are pre-

兺 冋兺 兺 册
T n⫹1 n⫹1 sented in Fig. 3, and the sea surface elevation data are
OI ⫽ Cj 共t兲Ck共t兲ⲐX2共t兲 共8兲 shown in Fig. 3a. The sifting is performed for S ⫽ 9
t⫽0 j⫽1 k⫽1 successive times.

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SEPTEMBER 2007 VELTCHEVA AND GUEDES SOARES
FIG. 2. Orthogonal index and sd of the individual cases from the
ensemble mean for 10 Hilbert spectra as a function of stopping
number S for records (a) NA9711200151 and (b) NA9711200731.
The information extracted in each IMF is checked in
order to estimate its statistical significance. Using the
relation between energy and the period of components
of decomposition of white noise obtained by Wu and
Huang (2004), each IMF is checked according to 99%
white noise boundary. The results of the significance
test for the records NA9711200151 and NA9711200731
are presented in Fig. 4. The energy of the first compo-
nent C1 is below the 99% boundary so it can be con-
sidered that C1 contains little useful information and it
can be assumed that C1 comes from noise, which is valid
for most records. On the basis of this assumption, the
energy of C1 can be assigned on the 99% line and it can
be used to rescale the rest of the IMF. The results of
these tests are shown by dots in Fig. 4.
The statistical significance of the decomposition of
the records [NA 9711200151 (single) and NA9711200731
(group)] shows that according to a priori test four IMFs
contained statistically significant information: C2, C3,
C4, and C5. Under the rescaled posteriori criterion,
however, C1 and C6 also contain some useful informa-
tion since all of the first six IMFs are bordering the
statistical significance at the 99% confidence limit.
1683
The energy and time characteristics of individual
IMF are estimated and compared with wave character-
istics in order to estimate quantitatively the contribu-
tion of different IMFs to the wave data. The zeroth
moment mC 0 is proposed as a measure of integrally de-
j
termined energy of Cj IMF, while the peak frequency fp
of spectrum Cj is used as the representative frequency.
The characteristics of records NA9711200151 and
NA9711200731 and their IMFs are presented in Table
1. The energy of the IMF with index higher than five is
significantly lower than the energy of the first five
IMFs. From an energetic point of view, the first five or
six IMFs are the main contributors to the energy con-
tents of these wave data. The third IMF C3 has the
highest energy in the decomposition of record
NA9711200151 with a single abnormal wave. The peak
frequency of the C3 IMF is 0.088 Hz.
The record NA9711200731 with an abnormal wave
group is characterized with a dominant C2 IMF, fol-
lowed by the third C3 IMF. The peak frequency of C2
and C3 components are close to each other, respec-
tively, 0.098 and 0.088 Hz. The presence of two domi-
nant IMF components with close frequencies of oscil-
lations in the decomposition of wave records was found
to be related to wave groupiness by Veltcheva (2002).
The energy hierarchy of the IMFs in the decomposition
of a wave record clearly reflected the specific peculiari-
ties of the particular wave data as also obtained by
Veltcheva and Guedes Soares (2004).
Next, the peculiarities of the decomposition are ex-
amined locally around the time of the abnormal wave
occurrence. The zoom of the IMF variation around the
time of abnormal wave occurrence is shown in Fig. 5.
The third IMF, C3, shown by the dashed thick line in
Fig. 5a, has the largest amplitude among the IMF; C3
has also the highest energy in the decomposition of the
whole record. There is a kind of focusing of the first
four IMF at the crest of single abnormal waves at t ⫽
375 s (Fig. 5a). The crest of the C3 IMF coincides with
the crest of the C2, C4, and C1 components. In the vi-
cinity of wave troughs, preceding and succeeding the
crest of the single abnormal wave, the second IMF C2 is
out of phase with C3 and C4. The decomposition of
record NA9711200731 around the time of the abnormal
wave group occurrence is presented in Fig. 5b. The sec-
ond C2 IMF (dotted line) has the largest energy in the
decomposition, followed by the C3 IMF (dashed thick
line). The decomposition of the abnormal wave group
in Fig. 5b does not present such a type of focusing of
different IMFs at the time of occurrence of the wave
crest of the abnormal wave. The second IMF C2 is in
phase with the abnormal wave, but a shifting of C3 and
C4 can be observed. These arrangements of the phases
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1684 JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24

FIG. 3. Empirical mode decomposition of wave record NA9711200151. (a) Data of sea surface elevation, (b)–(k) 10 IMF C1–C10,
and (l) residue R.

of C2, C3, and C4 contributed to the reconstruction of IMFs, in ascending order, starting with the IMF with
the specific peculiarities of the two types of abnormal the highest energy. The second and third components
waves. Figure 6 presents the reconstruction of the pro- are the main contributors for the reconstruction of the
file of the abnormal wave by adding up the first six abnormal waves as the sum of C2 and C3 is close to the

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SEPTEMBER 2007 VELTCHEVA AND GUEDES SOARES 1685

FIG. 4. Test of the statistical significance of information ex-

tracted into decomposition of records (a) NA9711200151 and (b)
NA9711200731.

wave profile. However, for the complete reconstruction

of the abnormal wave profile all components are nec- FIG. 5. Zoom of the wave data and its IMF at the vicinity of
essary. The arrangements of being in and out of phase abnormal wave for records (a) NA9711200151 and (b)
of C2, C3, and C4 in Fig. 5a resulted in correct recon- NA9711200731.
struction of the larger sharp crest and flat troughs of the
single abnormal wave in Fig. 6a. For the case of the
C3, and C4 reconstruct the observed more symmetric
abnormal wave group (Fig. 6b), the phase-shifted C2,
wave profile of abnormal wave at t ⫽ 373 s.
TABLE 1. Spectral characteristics of wave records and their IMF.
The variations of local frequency within the vicinity
of the abnormal wave are examined. The instantaneous
Single abnormal wave Group abnormal wave frequency is determined by the normalized HHT and
record NA9711200151: record NA9711200731: the correctness of its estimation is checked by means of
fp ⫽ 0.088 Hz; m0 ⫽ 10.56 fp ⫽ 0.098 Hz; m0 ⫽ 6.98
the EI. The time variation of the instantaneous fre-
Ci m0 fp m0 fp quency of the second C2 and third C3 components,
1 0.12 0.146 0.04 0.166 which have the largest energy in the decomposition of
2 1.58 0.117 3.69 0.098 records NA9711200151 and NA9711200731, are shown
3 8.39 0.088 2.43 0.088 in Figs. 7b,e and 8b,e, respectively. Additionally, the
4 0.77 0.059 0.66 0.049
sea surface elevation and corresponding IMF are shown
5 0.18 0.039 0.14 0.029
6 0.05 0.029 0.04 0.020 for reference in Figs. 7a,d and 8a,d, while Figs. 7c,f and
7 0.01 0.020 0.02 0.029 8c,f present the time variation of the EI of each IMF.
8 0.00 0.010 0.02 0.020 Generally, the estimated local frequency of different
9 0.00 0.010 0.01 0.010 IMF in the area of the abnormal wave is correct as the
10 0.00 0.010 0.00 0.010
EI has small values.

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1686 JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY
FIG. 6. Reconstruction of abnormal wave profile by IMF components
for records (a) NA9711200151 and (b) NA9711200731.
The asymmetrical waveform of the single abnormal
wave shown in Fig. 7a is accompanied by increasing the
instantaneous frequency of the second IMF (C2) up to
0.45 Hz in Fig. 7b. The local frequency of C3 in Fig. 7e
also varies within the time of occurrence of the abnor-
mal wave but not so much. The variation of local fre-
quency of the second IMF (C2) (Fig. 8b) within the
abnormal wave group is small, while the frequency of
C3 (Fig. 8e) does not change at all during the abnormal
wave occurrence. Quantitatively, the intrawave fre-
quency modulation can be estimated by the difference
between the instantaneous frequencies of IMF, which
contribute mainly to the profile of the abnormal wave,
as suggested by Wu and Yao (2004). The difference
⌬␻23(t) ⫽ ␻2(t) ⫺ ␻3(t) between the instantaneous fre-
quency ␻2(t) and ␻3(t) of the second and third IMF has
been verified. From Figs. 7b,e the difference ⌬␻23 for a
single abnormal wave is 0.32 Hz, while for an abnormal
VOLUME 24
wave group (Figs. 8b,e) ⌬␻23 it is 0.11 Hz. The larger
intrawave frequency modulation is associated with a
higher asymmetry of the profile of the single abnormal
wave in contrast to the more symmetrical abnormal
wave in the group. Depending on the mechanism of
generating abnormal waves, Wu and Yao (2004) re-
ported a different trend in the correlation between ⌬␻23
and wave steepness.
The peculiarities in the amplitude and frequency
variations of the IMF are reflected in the frequency–
time distribution of the energy. The Hilbert spectrum
H(␻, t) of the record NA9711200151 is shown in Fig. 9a,
while the H(␻, t) of record NA9711200731 is presented
in Fig. 10a. The 3D plot of the zoomed Hilbert spec-
trum in the vicinity of the abnormal wave is shown in
Figs. 9b and 10b. The color bars next to the diagrams
indicate the energy scale.
The abnormal waves are clearly shown in time and
frequency as the maximum energy of the record. An
interesting peculiarity is traced by detailed examination
of the zoomed Hilbert spectrum. The instantaneous fre-
quency increases considerably during a single abnormal
wave around 375 s in Fig. 9a as the variation of the local
frequency is the highest for the whole record. This is an
indicator of the intrawave frequency modulation.
The Hilbert spectrum of the abnormal wave group in
Fig. 10a also has a very well distinguished peak, but
without high frequency variations. Liu and Mori (2000),
analyzing the wavelet spectrum of abnormal wave data,
also observed that the symmetrical waveform of an ab-
normal wave does not produce energy in the high fre-
quency range in contrast with the wavelet spectrum of
steep abnormal waves. The intrawave frequency modu-
lation, a variation of the local frequency within one
wave, is connected with the large asymmetry of the
profile of a single abnormal wave and produced the
sharp increase of local frequency.
The Hilbert spectrum H(␻, t) provides an overall
view of the variation of energy with time and frequency
and points to the local time–frequency distribution of
the energy. The EMD is a nonlinear decomposition and
the Hilbert spectrum contains all the nonlinear wave-
form distortions, such as intrawave frequency modula-
tion. This nonlinear representation does not need the
harmonics to fit the waveform.
5. Conclusions
The Hilbert–Huang transform method for nonlinear
and nonstationary time series analysis is used in this
study to investigate abnormal waves. The characteris-
tics of abnormal waves are examined on the basis of
local decomposition of wave data into IMF. The confi-
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SEPTEMBER 2007 VELTCHEVA AND GUEDES SOARES 1687

FIG. 7. The variation of characteristics of (left) C2 and (right) C3 in the area of single abnormal wave for record
NA9711200151. (top) Sea surface elevation and IMF, (middle) instantaneous frequency, and (bottom) error index.

FIG. 8. The variation of characteristics of (left) C2 and (right) C3 in the area of abnormal wave group for record
NA97200731. (top) Sea surface elevation and IMF, (middle) instantaneous frequency, and (bottom) error index.

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1688 JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY
FIG. 9. (a) Hilbert spectrum of whole record NA9711200151
and (b) zoomed Hilbert spectrum in the vicinity of the abnormal
wave.
dence limit for EMD is determined first and the signifi-
cance of information, extracted in a different IMF, is
verified in detail.
Two types of abnormal waves, isolated single wave
and abnormal wave group, produce a different type of
decomposition. The third IMF (C3) has the highest en-
ergy in the decomposition of the record with single ab-
normal waves, while the record with abnormal wave
groups is characterized with two dominant IMFs (C2
and C3) with close peak frequencies, a fact related to
the wave groupiness.
The peculiarities of the decomposition are examined
locally around the time of the abnormal wave occur-
rence. The profile of the abnormal wave is recon-
structed by summing up the first six IMFs in ascending
order starting with the IMF with highest energy in the
decomposition. The dominant components are the
main contributors for the reconstruction of abnormal
waves as their summed total is close to the wave profile.
The changes of local frequency of each IMF in the
VOLUME 24
FIG. 10. (a) Hilbert spectrum of whole record NA9711200731
and (b) zoomed Hilbert spectrum in the vicinity of the abnormal
wave.
vicinity of abnormal waves are examined. The larger
intrawave frequency modulation is associated with a
higher asymmetry of the profile of single abnormal
waves in contrast to the more symmetrical abnormal
waves in a group.
The Hilbert spectrum easily detected the appearance
of abnormal waves both in the time and frequency do-
mains. The instantaneous frequency increases consid-
erably during a single abnormal wave occurrence as the
variation of the local frequency is the highest for the
whole record, while the Hilbert spectrum of the abnor-
mal wave group has very distinguished peaks due to the
occurrence of the abnormal wave but without intra-
wave frequency modulation. The asymmetry of abnor-
mal waves is correlated with the magnitude of intra-
wave frequency modulation.
Acknowledgments. The data used in this study have
been obtained during the project “Rogue Waves—
Forecast and Impact on Marine Structures (MAX-
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SEPTEMBER 2007 VELTCHEVA AND GUEDES SOARES
WAVE),” which was partially funded by the European
Commission under Contract EVK3-CT2000-00026.
This study has been partially financed by the Portu-
guese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)
under the Pluriannual funding to the Unit of Marine
Technology and Engineering.
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