Simulation of sea surface elevations by the Edgeworth distribution

The possibility of reliable monitoring of processes occurring near the ocean-atmosphere boundary is determined by how fully and correctly the geometric structure of the sea surface is described. The paper analyzes the possibilities of approximating the probability density function (PDF) of sea surface elevations by truncated Edgeworth series. The possibility of increasing the truncation order by using a regression equation linking the third and fifth statistical moments is considered. It is shown that the Edgeworth distribution, as well as the Gram-Charlier distribution, allows us to correctly describe PDF only in a limited region the width of which approximately corresponds to 1.25 significant wave height.