Implementation of WWIII wave model for the study of risk inundation on the coastlines of Campania, Italy

Abstract

The spectral third-generation wind-wave model WAVEWATCH III, operational since January 2005 at the Department of Applied Sciences of the Parthenope University, was adopted for simulating wave propagation and risk evaluation in the Gulf of Naples. The model was coupled with PSU/NCAR mesoscale model (MM5), which gives wind forcing at 1-h intervals. The model was implemented using a four-nested grid configuration covering the Mediterranean Sea toward the Gulf of Naples. Simulated results were compared with data recorded in 2000 offshore of the Gulf of Naples and with wind and wave data collected by APAT offshore of the mouth of river Sele in the Gulf of Salerno. Maps of coastal vulnerability, damage and risk were obtained taking into account the wave vulnerability and the potential damage to people and structures in case of coastal inundation. The obtained results are also used to classify the coastal zones of the Naples Province on the basis of the risk evaluation.