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Abstract. This paper reviews the characterization of wave storms along the Spanish/Catalan Mediterranean coast. It considers the "physical" and "statistical" description of wave parameters and how they are affected by the prevailing meteo patterns and the sharp gradients in orography and bathymetry. The available field data and numerically simulated wave fields are discussed from this perspective. The resulting limits in accuracy and predictability are illustrated with specific examples. This allows deriving some conclusions for both short-term operational predictions and a longterm climatic assessment.

The effect of tides, river, wind and Earth's rotation on the three-dimensional circulation in the Dee, a macrotidal estuary, are investigated using a fine-resolution model. The interactions of the large tidal amplitude, currents, river, and wind-generated circulation require baroclinic and unsteady studies to properly understand the estuarine dynamics. Assessment of the model skill has been carried out by model-observation comparisons for salinity, which is the main control for density, surface elevation, current, and turbulence. Stationary nondimensional numbers were only partially able to characterize the dynamics in this (real) complex macrotidal estuary. At low water, tidal straining and constrained river flow cause stratification. Large spatial variability occurs in the current and residual patterns, with flood-dominated maximum values occurring within the tidal channels. The tides control residual circulation by modulating stratification through tidal straining and bathymetric constraint on river flow. Tide-stratification-river interaction causes an unsteady pattern of residual circulation and tidal pulses. River-induced pulses are enhanced near low tideinducing density-driven circulation. Wind effects are concentrated near the surface, mainly occurring at high tide because of increased fetch. Even though Coriolis has, overall, a small contribution it produces tidal pulses modifying the current and salinity distribution.

A wave boundary layer model (WBLM) is implemented in the third‐generation ocean wave model SWAN to improve the wind‐input source function under idealized, fetch‐limited condition. Accordingly, the white capping dissipation parameters are recalibrated to fit the new wind‐input source function to parametric growth curves. The performance of the new pair of wind‐input and dissipation source functions is validated by numerical simulations of fetch‐limited evolution of wind‐driven waves. As a result, fetch‐limited growth curves of significant wave height and peak frequency show close agreement with benchmark studies at all wind speeds (5–60 m s−1) and fetches (1–3000 km). The WBLM wind‐input source function explicitly calculates the drag coefficient based on the momentum and kinetic energy conservation. The modeled drag coefficient using WBLM wind‐input source function is in rather good agreement with field measurements. Thus, the new pair of wind‐input and dissipation source functions not only improve the wave simulation but also have the potential of improving air‐sea coupling systems by providing reliable momentum flux estimation at the air‐sea interface.