Wave energy in the Balearic Sea. Evolution from a 29 year spectral wave hindcast

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. This work studies the wave energy availability in the Western Mediterranean Sea using wave simulation from January 1983 to December 2011. The model implemented is the WAM, forced by the ECMWF ERAInterim wind fields. The Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) data from MetOp satellite an...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Ponce-de-León, Sonia, Orfila, Alejandro, Simarro, Gonzalo
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/123634
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/123634
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Mediterranean Sea
WAM model
Wave energy
Wave climate variability
ASCAT
TOPEX-Poseidon
Descrição
Resumo:© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. This work studies the wave energy availability in the Western Mediterranean Sea using wave simulation from January 1983 to December 2011. The model implemented is the WAM, forced by the ECMWF ERAInterim wind fields. The Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) data from MetOp satellite and the TOPEX-Poseidon altimetry data are used to assess the quality of the wind fields and WAM results respectively. Results from the hindcast are the starting point to analyse the potentiality of obtaining wave energy around the Balearic Islands Archipelago. The comparison of the 29 year hindcast against wave buoys located in Western, Central and Eastern basins shows a high correlation between the hindcasted and the measured significant wave height (H<inf>s</inf>), indicating a proper representation of spatial and temporal variability of H<inf>s</inf>. It is found that the energy flux at the Balearic coasts range from 9.1 kW/m, in the north of Menorca Island, to 2.5 kW/m in the vicinity of the Bay of Palma. The energy flux is around 5 and 6 times lower in summer as compared to winter