Wave energy conditions in the western French coast

• Main Authors: Gonçalves, Marta, Martinho, Paulo, Guedes Soares, C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148113003212

This paper presents a numerical study of the wave energy distribution in the western French coast, in particular in its pilot zone, as part of an European project, aiming to characterize the wave energy in the Atlantic coast of Europe. For this study two third generation state of the art models are used. A generation model, WAVEWATCH III is used to generate waves for the entire North Atlantic basin, so as to properly account for the swell that arrives at the location and a transformation model, SWAN, models the evolution of the waves in the French coast, as a result of wind forcing. Wave energy resource; Third generation spectral wave model; Wave transformation; French coast; Le Croisic;