Based on 30-year wind, wave and current data in the South China Sea which are hindcasted by using numerical models and data assimilation, the extreme wind, wave and current for return periods in deep water of the South China Sea are calculated by using the three-parameter Weibull distribution model. The results in this paper can provide primary reference for design and management of ocean engineering in deep water of the South China Sea. Because the research on the engineering environment in the deep water of the South China Sea is just beginning, these results need to be verified further combined with in situ observational data in the next step.
Traditionally, the South China Sea (SCS) is very important in trading, transportation and military affairs because of its special geographic location. With the development of underwater exploration, we have known that the current estimation for the total natural gas and oil resources in deep water of the SCS is huge, and many oil and gas companies plan to tap in the near future. Estimation of the extreme wind, wave and current for different return periods is the first step before any maritime affairs, but this needs plenty of observed data. However, there is limited data with very sparse sampling in space and time in the deep water of the SCS. In this paper, we first give a general description on the wind, wave and current to present a whole picture on the marine environment of the SCS. Next, the data preparation and the method to calculate the extreme values are presented. The results on the extremes of the wind, wave and current for return periods of 50 and 100 years are shown in the following section. Discussion and summary are given in the last section.
