LIMITS OF OPERATIONAL WAVE PREDICTION IN THE NORTH-WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN

摘要

Wind-waves are one of the main factors that impact infrastructures and activities at offshore and coastal areas. Therefore the simulation of such phenomena is of interest for economic, environmental and social problems. In this paper, using a severe storm as a case study, the main source of errors considering the wind quality, time resolution and spatial resolution is highlighted. The wind model used is the MASS for wind field generation that later will be applied to WAM-P and SWAN wind-wave models. Results show that wind at the NW Mediterranean and in particular at the Catalan coast is highly controlled by orography and therefore presents local features that impact wind-wave generation. The bimodal features found during the storm are evidence of such phenomena. The proper simulation of the swell peak is conditioned by the wind fields quality and the time resolution, while the sea peak, produced by a local wind blowing offshore, is conditioned by spatial resolution. An additional uncertainty for the sea (fetch limited) is the growth rate change under opposing swell conditions.