Articles | Volume 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-15-145-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-15-145-2018
26 Jul 2018
 | 26 Jul 2018

Case study of the winter 2013/2014 extreme wave events off the west coast of Ireland

Jelena Janjić, Sarah Gallagher, and Frédéric Dias

Abstract. Using the third generation WAVEWATCH III wave model in an unstructured formulation, and driven by HARMONIE-AROME mesoscale model hourly winds with a 2.5 km horizontal resolution, we reproduce the winter storms of 2013/2014 and analyse their effect on the western coastline of Ireland. WAVEWATCH III was forced at its ocean boundaries by directional wave spectra obtained from the ECMWF ERA-Interim re-analysis dataset. The wave model has a high resolution grid (up to 225 m resolution in the nearshore) with around 20 000 nodes, producing an abundance of important wave parameters outputted hourly, enabling a high quality, high-resolution analysis of the winter storms of 2013/2014.

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Short summary
This study examines the synoptic conditions around Ireland during the winter of 2013/2014, which produced record-breaking sea states and severe coastal damage. Using a wave model, we analysed four of the most energetic storms providing an overview of the height, directionality and periodicity of the waves. This study provides important information for the development of renewable ocean energy extraction, where deployment location selection and survivability are a primary concern.