Recent changes in extreme wave events in the Southwestern South Atlantic
Over the past decades, the South Atlantic Ocean has experienced several changes, including a reported increase in coastal erosion and floods. This study aims to investigate the recent changes in the extreme wave events over the Southwest South Atlantic (SWSA) – which hosts the most economically impo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2022-7 https://sp.copernicus.org/preprints/sp-2022-7/ |
| Summary: | Over the past decades, the South Atlantic Ocean has experienced several changes, including a reported increase in coastal erosion and floods. This study aims to investigate the recent changes in the extreme wave events over the Southwest South Atlantic (SWSA) – which hosts the most economically important harbours in South America, high oil and gas production demands, and rich biodiversity. This investigation considers not only the occurrence of wave extreme events but also other extreme wave indicators that may impact the off-shore and coastal areas. For a more direct application to future risk assessment and management, we perform a more focused analysis considering the regional monitoring and warning system division established by the Brazilian Navy. We used a coastal hazards database that covers a portion of the coast to investigate how the trends given by the hindcast may impact the coastal zone. Extreme wave events are obtained using the 95th percentile of significant wave height (Hs) from 1993 to 2021, combining the CMEMS global wave reanalysis and near-real-time products. Annual and seasonal statistics are used to analyse the wave mean and extreme climate patterns and trends in the study region, focusing on Hs, peak period, and wave power. With the analysis, an overview of the wave climate in the study domain is made, including the discussion about seasonal differences. Our findings showed significant changes in the SWSA mainly associated with an increase in mean Hs values, wave period, and consequently, the wave power. Narrowing down to the coast impact, we found an increase in the number of coastal hazards in São Paulo State associated with wave forcing in good agreement with the increase in the number of extreme wave events in the adjacent ocean sector. |
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