Abstract: Major update of physics of the third-generation models will be presented. The new source terms for wind input, whitecapping dissipation, interaction of waves with adverse winds (negative input), swell attenuation, nonlinear interactions and wave-ice interactions have been developed and implemented in WAVEWATCH-III, SWAN, WAM and WWMIII models, including operational versions. Physics and parameterisations for the new source functions are based on observations, which allowed us to reveal features and processes previously unknown and not accounted for. This also means that the model is not submit to tuning and should work off the shelf. For extreme conditions, physics of the wind input and whitecapping dissipation terms exhibit additional features irrelevant or inactive at moderate weather. In order to test the source functions independently, and control the flux balance in the model, additional observation-based constraints are implemented. At each time step, the total momentum input is verified to match an independently known wind stress. The new versions of the models have undergone extensive testing by means of academic tests, regional and global wave hindcast, modelling extreme conditions ranging from tropical cyclones to the marginal ice zone.
Time permitting, we will also discuss the new role of wave models: their coupling with large-scale models. Specifically, we will outline significance of wave-supported air-sea fluxes in the context of dynamics of extreme metocean conditions, such as tropical cyclones, and of the upper ocean, including ocean mixing, gas exchange, biogeochemistry.
Bio: 
Alexander V. Babanin is Professor in Ocean Engineering and Director of the Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Qualifications: BSc (Physics), MSc (Physical Oceanography) (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia), PhD (Physical Oceanography) (Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Sebastopol, Russia). Worked as a Research Scientist in the Marine Hydrophysical Institute, as an academic in the University of New South Wales, ADFA, Canberra; The University of Adelaide, South Australia; Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. Areas of expertise, research and teaching, are wind-generated waves, maritime, coastal and Arctic engineering, air-sea interactions, ocean turbulence and ocean dynamics, climate, environmental instrumentation and remote sensing of the ocean. These include extreme Metocean conditions, from tropical cyclones to Arctic and Antarctic environments. 430+ career total publications.