  A high-resolution wave climate projection for the northwestern Atlantic Ocean
has been conducted to help assess possible regional impacts due to global
climate change. The spectral wave model NOAA WAVEWATCH III is utilized with
three coupled (two-way) grids to resolve the northwestern Atlantic and coastal
southern and eastern USA at approximately 21 km and 7 km respectively, and
covers the periods 1979--2003 (historic) and 2075--2099 (future). Hourly wind
field forcings are provided by a high-resolution AGCM (MRI-AGCM 3.2S; 21 km)
and allow for better modeling of large storm events (important for extreme
event statistics). Climatological (25-year) comparisons between future and
historical periods indicate significant wave heights will decrease in the
northwestern Atlantic Ocean (-5.7 %) and Gulf of Mexico (-4.7 %) but increase
in the Caribbean Sea (2.4 %). Comparisons also indicate that large changes in
mean wave direction will occur in the Gulf of Mexico (5.0{\deg}), with the
largest occurring west of the Florida peninsula (over 15{\deg}).
