Studying the sea surface slopes using an array of wave gauge sensors

The deviations of the marine surface slope spectra (measured using an array of wave gauge sensors) from the theoretical estimates obtained using the linear spectral model of the wave field are analyzed. It has been indicated that the average measured full slope spectra (the sum of the slope component spectra in the orthogonal directions) is higher than the theoretical estimates by 6% at frequencies from the surface wave spectral peak (f m ) to 4.5 f m . The difference between the measured and theoretical estimates of the full slope spectrum rapidly increases at frequencies of f < f m . At f m ≈ 0.75 f m , the average measured full slope spectrum is higher than the theoretical estimate by a factor of more than 5.