Wave Analysis for Offshore Aquaculture Projects: A Case Study for the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The investigation of wave climate is of primary concern for the successful implementation of offshore aquaculture systems as waves can cause significant loads on them. Up until now, site selection and design (or selection) of offshore cage system structures on extended sea areas do not seem to follow any specific guidelines. This paper presents a novel methodology for the identification of favorable sites for offshore aquaculture development in an extended sea area based on two important technical factors: (i) the detailed characterization of the wave climate, and (ii) the water depth. Long-term statistics of the significant wave height, peak wave period, and wave steepness are estimated on an annual and monthly temporal scale, along with variability measures. Extreme value analysis is applied to estimate the design values and associated return periods of the significant wave height; structures should be designed based on this data, to avoid partial or total failure. The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is selected as a case study, and long-term time series of wave spectral parameters from the ERA5 dataset are utilized. Based on the obtained results, the most favorable areas for offshore aquaculture installations have been identified.

Wave Power Trends over the Mediterranean Sea Based on Innovative Methods and 60-Year ERA5 Reanalysis

“…Despite the complex morphology of the Aegean Sea, the correlation obtained for significant wave height data from ERA5 was >0.95 with a bias of 0.03 m. The correlation for the energy period from ERA5 was also >0.85. A good agreement between the in situ measurement data of Greek and Italian buoys and the ERA5 reanalysis dataset was found for the Eastern Mediterranean by Karathanasi et al (2022) [40], and the correlation for significant wave height (peak period) was >0.95 (>0.80) with a bias of 0.027 m (0.239 s). Moreover, Abu Zed et al (2022) [43] stated that ERA5 is more suitable in the Southeast Mediterranean Sea.…”

Developments in Modeling Techniques for Reliability Design of Aquaculture Cages: A Review

“…However, the outputs of these global or regional hindcast datasets typically have relatively large spatial and temporal resolutions, which may not offer sufficient predictive accuracy for the selected fish farm sites. Karathanasi, et al [40] quantitatively compared the statistical distribution differences and fitting performance of hindcast datasets from ERA5 and wave buoy measurement data in the Mediterranean region. The comparison by Karathanasi et al [40] revealed that the hindcast dataset had better predictions for H s when compared to T p , and the prediction accuracy was notably influenced by spatial location.…”

“…Karathanasi, et al [40] quantitatively compared the statistical distribution differences and fitting performance of hindcast datasets from ERA5 and wave buoy measurement data in the Mediterranean region. The comparison by Karathanasi et al [40] revealed that the hindcast dataset had better predictions for H s when compared to T p , and the prediction accuracy was notably influenced by spatial location.…”