Wave direction is a fundamental variable in coastal engineering, whether one is interested in analyzing coastal processes or designing harbor structures. In this work a mixture of circular (wrapped) distributions is introduced for modeling the non-stationary probability distribution function of mean wave directions. The proposed distribution is able to accommodate seasonal and inter-annual variability, as well the influence of several climatic indices. This function was applied to the Atlantic

more »

... ruguayan coast, finding that both the Tropical South Atlantic index and the Antarctic Oscillation index have a significant influence on the variability of the wave directions.