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Spatial and temporal wave climate variability along the south coast of Sweden during 1959–2021

Adell, Anna LU orcid ; Almström, Björn LU ; Kroon, Aart ; Larson, Magnus LU ; B Uvo, Cintia LU orcid and Hallin, Caroline LU (2023) In Regional Studies in Marine Science 63.
Abstract
This study presents 62 years of hindcast wave climate data for the south coast of Sweden from 1959–2021. The 100-km-long coast consists mainly of sandy beaches and eroding bluffs interrupted by headlands and harbours alongshore, making it sensitive to variations in incoming wave direction. A SWAN wave model of the Baltic Sea, extending from the North Sea to the Åland Sea, was calibrated and validated against wave observations from 16 locations distributed within the model domain. Wave data collected from open databases were complemented with new wave buoy observations from two nearshore locations within the study area at 14 and 15 m depth. The simulated significant wave height showed good agreement with the local observations, with an... (More)
This study presents 62 years of hindcast wave climate data for the south coast of Sweden from 1959–2021. The 100-km-long coast consists mainly of sandy beaches and eroding bluffs interrupted by headlands and harbours alongshore, making it sensitive to variations in incoming wave direction. A SWAN wave model of the Baltic Sea, extending from the North Sea to the Åland Sea, was calibrated and validated against wave observations from 16 locations distributed within the model domain. Wave data collected from open databases were complemented with new wave buoy observations from two nearshore locations within the study area at 14 and 15 m depth. The simulated significant wave height showed good agreement with the local observations, with an average R2 of 0.83. The multi-decadal hindcast data was used to analyse spatial and temporal wave climate variability. The results show that the directional distribution of incoming waves varies along the coast, with a gradually increasing wave energy exposure from the west towards the east. The wave climate is most energetic from October to March, with the highest wave heights in November, December, and January. In general, waves from westerly directions dominate the annual wave energy, but within the hindcast time series, a few years had larger wave energy from easterly directions. The interannual variability of total wave energy and wave direction is correlated to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. In the offshore, the total annual wave energy had a statistically significant positive correlation with the NAO DJFM station-based index, with a Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.51. In the nearshore, the correlation was even stronger. Future studies should investigate the possibility of using the NAO index as a proxy for the wave energy direction and its effect on coastal evolution. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Regional Studies in Marine Science
volume
63
article number
103011
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85160563112
ISSN
2352-4855
DOI
10.1016/j.rsma.2023.103011
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ba400a80-77bc-4fd5-9b79-83aa153f2bb4
date added to LUP
2023-05-23 09:29:38
date last changed
2023-10-26 15:01:55
@article{ba400a80-77bc-4fd5-9b79-83aa153f2bb4,
  abstract     = {{This study presents 62 years of hindcast wave climate data for the south coast of Sweden from 1959–2021. The 100-km-long coast consists mainly of sandy beaches and eroding bluffs interrupted by headlands and harbours alongshore, making it sensitive to variations in incoming wave direction. A SWAN wave model of the Baltic Sea, extending from the North Sea to the Åland Sea, was calibrated and validated against wave observations from 16 locations distributed within the model domain. Wave data collected from open databases were complemented with new wave buoy observations from two nearshore locations within the study area at 14 and 15 m depth. The simulated significant wave height showed good agreement with the local observations, with an average R2 of 0.83. The multi-decadal hindcast data was used to analyse spatial and temporal wave climate variability. The results show that the directional distribution of incoming waves varies along the coast, with a gradually increasing wave energy exposure from the west towards the east. The wave climate is most energetic from October to March, with the highest wave heights in November, December, and January. In general, waves from westerly directions dominate the annual wave energy, but within the hindcast time series, a few years had larger wave energy from easterly directions. The interannual variability of total wave energy and wave direction is correlated to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. In the offshore, the total annual wave energy had a statistically significant positive correlation with the NAO DJFM station-based index, with a Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.51. In the nearshore, the correlation was even stronger. Future studies should investigate the possibility of using the NAO index as a proxy for the wave energy direction and its effect on coastal evolution.}},
  author       = {{Adell, Anna and Almström, Björn and Kroon, Aart and Larson, Magnus and B Uvo, Cintia and Hallin, Caroline}},
  issn         = {{2352-4855}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Regional Studies in Marine Science}},
  title        = {{Spatial and temporal wave climate variability along the south coast of Sweden during 1959–2021}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2023.103011}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.rsma.2023.103011}},
  volume       = {{63}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}