Study of the Wave Energy Propagation Patterns in the Western Black Sea

The most relevant patterns of the wave energy propagation in the western side of the Black Sea were assessed in the present work. The emphasis was put on the western side because this is also the most energetic part of the Black Sea. The assessments performed relate some recent results provided by a numerical wave modeling system based on the spectrum concept. The SWAN model (acronym for Simulating Waves Nearshore) was considered. This was implemented over the entire sea basin and focused with increasing resolution in the geographical space towards the Romanian nearshore. Furthermore, some data assimilation techniques have also been implemented, such that the results provided are accurate and reliable. Special attention was paid to the high, but not extreme, winter wave energy conditions. The cases considered are focused on the coastal waves generated by distant storms, which means the local wind has not very high values in the targeted areas. This also takes into account the fact that the configuration of the environmental matrix in the Black Sea is currently subjected to significant changes mainly due to the climate change. From this perspective, the present work illustrates some of the most recent patterns of wave energy propagation in the western side of the Black Sea, considering eight different SWAN computational domains. According to most of the recent evaluations, the nearshore of the Black Sea is characterized by an average wave power lower than 6 kW/m. The results of the present work show that there is a real tendency of the wave energy enhancement. This tendency, especially concerns the western side of the basin, where in the high conditions considered, values of the wave power about 10 times greater than the average have been noticed.