Abstract
The swell climate of the Black Sea has been determined using a long-term 31-year wave hindcast with the third-generation spectral wave model SWAN in combination with spectral partitioning. This technique enables decomposing wave spectra into individual wave systems representing wind seas or swells and computing integral wave parameters of each partition. Results are presented of the partition technique and of spatial and seasonal characteristics of wind sea and swell systems. In addition, the average amount of swell energy and the occurrence probability of dangerous crossing sea states are determined.
Highlights
Low-frequency wind generated swell waves have a special place in offshore and coastal engineering as they occur independent of the local wind
The Black Sea is limited in size, it is still large enough to generate swell waves in storm systems, which radiate to other sides of this sea
As can be seen the total significant wave height is usually composed of only a wind sea and where the significant wave height is strongly coupled with the local wind speed
Summary
Low-frequency wind generated swell waves have a special place in offshore and coastal engineering as they occur independent of the local wind These waves can be dangerous as they may have relatively large periods in combination with small heights in contrast to storm waves where heights and periods are strongly coupled due to the physical effects of non-linear four-wave interactions (cf Hasselmann et al (1973) and Young and Van Vledder (1993). Information on their occurrence probabilities is important to estimate down-time of ports, the optimal design of wave energy convertors and ship motions in cross seas. To properly cope with these waves, reliable information on their statistical properties is important for many offshore and coastal engineering applications, both in terms of their heights as well as their periods
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