Bayesian Hierarchical Space-Time Models with Application to Significant Wave Height

Erik Vanem, Elzbieta Maria Bitner-Gregersen, Christopher K. Wikle

This book provides an example of a thorough statistical treatment in space and time of ocean wave data. It is demonstrated how the flexible framework of Bayesian hierarchical space-time models can be applied to oceanographic processes such as significant wave height in order to describe dependence structures and uncertainties in the data. This monograph is a research book and it is in some sense cross-disciplinary. The methodology itself is firmly rooted in the statistical research tradition, based on probability theory and stochastic processes. However, the methodology has been applied to a problem within physical oceanography, analysing data for significant wave height, which are of crucial importance to ocean engineering disciplines. Indeed, the statistical properties of significant wave height are important for the design, construction and operation of ships and other marine and...