Publications

Rusu, L., Goncalves, M. and Guedes Soares, C. (2018), “Prediction of storm conditions using wind data from the ECMWF and NCEP reanalysis”, Maritime Transportation and Harvesting of Sea Resources, Guedes Soares, C. & Teixeira A.P. (Eds.), Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK, pp. 1111-1117

The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the wave prediction system based on numerical models to predict the storm conditions close to the Western Iberian coast. Two state-of-the-art spectral phase averaged wave models were used in system implementation, and they are WAM (WAve prediction Model) for the wave generation over the North Atlantic Ocean, while for simulations close to the Iberian coast SWAN (Simulating Waves Nearshore) model is applied. The wind fields from ECMWF Reanalysis Interim (ERA-I) and NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) were used in the simulations performed in the winter 20132014, when consecutive extreme storms hit the west of European coasts. In the two sets of simulations conducted for entire period considered, both wave models were forced with the same reanalysis wind field. A comparison between the results provided by the wave prediction system forced with wind fields from ERA-I and CFSR was made, utilizing buoy measurements and multi satellite altimeter observations. The extreme wave conditions were predicted with a reasonable accuracy in both simulations, some underestimations of the peak events being observed.

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