Construction of the Numerical Wave Databases Anemoc-2 on the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean Through Hindcast Simulations Over the Period 1979–2010

Abstract

In the 2000s, CEREMA and EDF R&D have been collaborating to build two continuous wave databases through numerical hindcast simulations: one covers the Atlantic Ocean, the other the Mediterranean Sea. These databases are called ANEMOC. Over the last three years, new versions of the two numerical atlases have been created, in collaboration with Saint-Venant Laboratory. Several improvements have been made in the construction of ANEMOC-2: the Atlantic model covers a larger area, the temporal coverage of the atlases is larger (32 years from 1979 to 2010), direction and frequency discretization is finer, wind forcing is finer both in time (1 h resolution) and space (0.312) and the computation meshes are refined to reach 800–1000 m along the French coast. The simulations are performed with the numerical wave model TOMAWAC, a third generation spectral model, which is a module of the TELEMAC-MASCARET open source suite. The databases are calibrated with altimeters measurements, and validated in a second step against uncorrelated buoys measurements. The databases provide several wave parameters: significant wave height, mean, peak and energy period, mean direction, angular wave spreading, and wave power. More results regarding calibration and validation are presented for the Mediterranean wave model. Results of both Mediterranean and Atlantic databases are then presented. Their analyses by comparison with altimeter and buoy measurements provide an assessment of many of their characteristics. Finally, ANEMOC-2 ability to reproduce intense wave conditions is highlighted by the study of two storm events.