Assessment of wave energy variation in the Persian Gulf

Abstract

Since wave energy has the highest marine energy density in the coastal areas, assessment of its potential is of great importance. Furthermore, long term variation of wave power must be studied to ensure the availability of stable wave energy. In this paper, wave energy potential is assessed along the southern coasts of Iran, the Persian Gulf. For this purpose, SWAN numerical model and ECMWF wind fields were used to produce the time series of wave characteristics over 25 years from 1984 till 2008. Moreover, three points in the western, central and eastern parts of the Persian Gulf were selected and the time series of energy extracted from the modeled waves were evaluated at these points. The results show that there are both seasonal and decadal variations in the wave energy trends in all considered points due to the climate variability. There was a reduction in wave power values from 1990 to 2000 in comparison with the previous and following years. Comparison of wind speed and *REVISED Manuscript UNMARKED Click here to view linked References corresponding wave power variations indicates that a small variation in the wind speed can cause a large variation in the wave power. The seasonal oscillations lead to variation of the wave power from the lowest value in summer to the highest value in winter in all considered stations. In addition, the seasonal trend of wave power changed during the decadal variation of wave power. Directional variations of wave power were also assessed during the decadal variations and the results showed that the dominant direction of wave propagation changed in the period of 1990 to 2000 especially in the western station.

On Quadruplet Interactions for Ocean Surface Waves

“…The applications to societal concerns and problems are numerous. Good simulations and forecasts of ocean 15 wave data can make good contributions to studies related to ocean wave energy resources utilization, disaster prevention and reduction, and search and rescue, etc (Kamranzad et al (2013); Mirzaei et al (2013);Zheng et al (2014);and Zheng & Li (2015)). …”

Spatial Distribution of the Baltic Sea Near-Shore Wave Power Potential along the Coast of Klaipėda, Lithuania

“…The findings were remarkable: a 6% change of the wind direction in this case can result in a 77% decrease of the wave power. The estimated average wave power in the Persian Gulf is not high: in the deepest areas, it reaches 2 kW/m [20].…”

“…The interest in wave power in Iran does not end in the Caspian Sea: the wave power potential of the Persian Gulf was also analysed [20]. Again, with the help of the SWAN model, not only the wave power potential but also the influence of the prevailing wind direction on the wave power in this shallow gulf (average depth 36 m) was examined.…”

Development of the wave spectrum of the northern region of the Bay of Bengal based on Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) moored buoy data

“…These variations and trends tend to instigate a number of physical processes culminating a 'herculean' impact on the marine environment. The varying atmospheric and climatic conditions observed in these time-scales or in other words, in different seasons stimulate variations in the spectral characteristics of the sea or ocean waves [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] . The monsoons of the Indian Ocean are the beau ideals of particularly strong ocean-atmosphere interaction.…”