The ECHOWAVE Hindcast

Abstract

The ECHOWAVE hindcast is an open source dataset specially developed for wave climate and energy applications within European Atlantic waters. It provides high resolution (∼2.3 km) fields of wave parameters and spectral data allowing for a detailed characterization of the wave resource within the coastal shelf. This is of importance for depths <200 m, where most deployment projects of wave energy converters (WEC) take place. Model setup and adjustments, leading to parameterization TUD-165, were specially aimed to improve the sea states’ characterization within the North-East Atlantic. The effects on accuracy of these adjustments and extensive validation, were done mainly comparing simulations with significant wave heights (H
_s) from the European Space Agency CCI Version 3 altimeter dataset. Verification of other wave parameters and the spectral energy comparing with in situ measurements were also included. Results show that TUD-165 helps to reduce about 5% the H
_s bias of the most frequent waves compared to T475 proposed by Alday et al. (2021), and an overall better performance than ERA5 within the North-East Atlantic. Compared to WAVERYS, ECHOWAVE performs better for H
_s >9.5 m, with constrained bias between −2 to 5%. The accurate estimation of “extreme” waves is important to avoid WECs survivability over-estimations.