Reliability of pressure sensors to measure wave height in the shoaling region

A comparison between a range of transfer functions to recover wave height from pressure sensors data is presented. The analysis is carried out by means of a large-scale wave flume experimental dataset, in which resistive, acoustic and pressure gauges recovered wave height are compared as the waves travel from intermediate waters, to the shoaling region and finally into the surf zone. All the considered transfer functions result adequate in recovering wave height in intermediate waters, becoming gradually less accurate as the steepness of the wave increases in the shoaling region and in the surf zone. The accuracy of the compared transfer functions is assessed by means of an ensemble wave height based deviation.