Journal of Operational OceanographyVolume 13 Supplement 1 September 2020CONTENTSChapter 1: Introduction and the European Environment policy framework — s1 1.1 Introduction and main outcomes  Karina...

Copernicus Marine Service Ocean State Report, Issue 4

The wave and wind power potential in the western Black Sea

Evaluation of the near future wave energy resources in the Black Sea under two climate scenarios

Downscaling of wave climate in the western Black Sea

The aim of the present work is to assess the wind and wave climate in the Black Sea while considering various data sources. A special attention is given to the areas with higher navigation traffic. Thus, the results are analyzed for the sites located close to the main harbors and also along the major trading routes. The wind conditions were evaluated considering two different data sets, the reanalysis data provided by NCEP-CFSR (U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Climate Forecast System Reanalysis) and the hindcast results given by a Regional Climate Model (RCM) that were retrieved from EURO-CORDEX (European Domain-Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment). For the waves, there were considered the results coming from simulations with the SWAN (Simulating Wave Nearshore) model, forced with the above-mentioned two different wind fields. Based on these results, it can be mentioned that the offshore sites seem to show the best correlation between the two datasets for both wind and waves. As regards the nearshore sites, there is a good agreement between the average values of the wind data that are provided by the different datasets, except for the points located in the southern part of the Black Sea. The same trends noticed for the average values remain also valid for the extreme values. Finally, it can be concluded that the results obtained in this study are useful for the evaluation of the wind and wave climate in the Black Sea. Also, they give a more comprehensive picture on how well the wind field provided by the Regional Climate Model, and the wave model forced with this wind, can represent the features of a complex marine environment as the Black Sea is.

A Comparative Analysis of the Wind and Wave Climate in the Black Sea Along the Shipping Routes

The present work is focused on the importance of the resolution and accuracy of the wind fields in modeling waves in the Black Sea. Two different wind fields are considered for forcing the third generation spectral wave model SWAN. The wind data wave model results are compared against in situ measurements performed at the Gloria drilling unit and also against satellite data for a two-month period of wintertime at the beginning of 2002. Subsequently, the model simulations were extended with other four months, time interval that corresponds to moderated wave conditions. Both direct comparisons and statistical results show that in such enclosed seas, as the Black Sea is, the wind resolution is a crucial factor in modeling waves. Moreover, the impact of increasing the wind resolution is even greater in the wave modeling than in the wind modeling. The underestimation of the extreme significant wave heights, a typical feature of the spectral models, is in general corrected when the high-resolution wind data is used but it still persists in high wind and wave conditions as well as in highly non stationary cases.

Evaluation of the wind influence in modeling the black sea wave conditions

The target area of the present work is the nearshore neighbouring the Sacalin Island in the Black Sea, right off the Danube Delta and close to the Saint George branch of the Danube River. Being a newly formed island, this is a very special coastal environment. Moreover, because it has a great variety of rare fauna, the area was declared as an ecological reserve. A multilevel wave modelling system, based on the Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) spectral model, was focused on the target area. In the final computational domain, with the highest resolution in the geographical space, the effect of the current induced by the Danube River outflow was also accounted for in the modelling process. The wave propagation patterns characteristic to this side of the sea, together with some parameters related to the shoreline conditions, were evaluated. Four different case studies were considered for a detailed analysis. The results provided by the modelling system revealed two antagonist processes. The first process, which is dominant, and that can be defined as a constructive process, corresponds to the waves coming from the northeast. The second process, which can be defined as a destructive process, corresponds to the conditions of extremely strong storms with waves coming from the southeast. Although such situations are quite rare, they might occur however from time to time and this is actually the case that generated in the winter of 2013 a strong penetration of the waves through the Sacalin Island changing the coastal configuration.

/pdf/numerical-modelling-of-the-wave-propagation-close-to-the-2x0b60vaur.pdf

Dorin Butunoiu

Papers

Evaluation of the wind influence in modeling the black sea wave conditions

Numerical modelling of the wave propagation close to the sacalin island in the black sea