Abstract
This study presents a detailed analysis of changes in wind and wave climate in the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMed), based on 41 years of accurate wind and wave hindcasts. The purpose of this research is to assess the magnitude of recent changes in wave climate and to locate the coastal areas most affected by these changes. Starting from the Theil-Sen slope estimator and the Mann Kendall test, trends in mean and Max significant wave heights (SWH) and wind speed (WS) are analysed simultaneously on seasonal and annual scales. Thus, the new wave records observed since 2010 have been located spatially and temporally using a simple spatial analysis method, while the increases in maximum wave heights over the last decade have been estimated and mapped. This work was motivated by evidence pointed out by several authors concerning the influence of global climate change on the local climate in the Mediterranean Sea and by the increase in the number and intensity of wave storm events over recent years. Several exceptional storms have recently been observed along the Mediterranean coasts, including storm Adrian in 2018 and storm Gloria in 2020, which resulted in enormous damage along the French and Spanish coasts. The results of the present study reflect a worrying situation in large part of the WMed coasts. Most of the WMed basin experiences a significant increasing trend in the annual Max of SWH and WS with evident inter-seasonal variability that underlines the importance of multi-scale analysis to assess wind and wave trends. Since 2013, about half of the WMed coastline has experienced records in wave climate, not recorded at least since 1979, and several areas have experienced three successive records. Several WMed coasts are experiencing a worrying evolution of the wave climate, which requires a serious mobilisation to prevent probable catastrophic wave storms and ensure sustainable and economic development.
Highlights
In January 2020, the storm Gloria reached a new record of significant wave heights (SWH)observed by wave measuring buoys located in the Northern part of the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMed)
We are interested in the remarkable change in the wind-wave climate and in the new records of wave climate observed in the WMed Sea during the last decade, and we focus mainly on the spatial variation of the annual trends of Max SWH and simultaneously to the trend of the force responsible for their generation which is the wind speed (WS), and those in order to understand the spatial relationship between the trends of WS and wave heights, and the spatial connection of both parameters' trends, with respect to the new records of extreme SWH
A wave trend study based on 40-year wave data published by De Leo et al, (2020) shows that a large part of the Spanish coasts that were highly exposed to record waves during the storm Gloria did not have a significant trend of Max SWH (SWH_Max), according to the results of Yuchun and Leo, (2020) an area characterized by a WS trend may not have a significant trend for SWH and vice versa; these facts led us to follow the present methodology
Summary
Observed by wave measuring buoys located in the Northern part of the WMed. The wave heights measured by the Tarragona buoy, located approximately 1.1 km from the coast at 15 m depth, have exceeded for the first time the 4 m height since its installation in 1992. The wave heights measured by the Tarragona buoy, located approximately 1.1 km from the coast at 15 m depth, have exceeded for the first time the 4 m height since its installation in 1992 This storm was responsible for considerable human and material losses on the French and Spanish coasts. The researchers have suggested that serious consideration should be accorded to the risks and probable damage that such coastal storms may induce in the near and far future.
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