Wind-Generated Sea Wave Climate Characterization at the Tagus Estuary

Abstract

In order to forecast both the short and the medium-term evolution of estuarine beaches, as the ones that exist in the Tagus Estuary, there is a need to both define the sea wave climate generated by local wind in those confined areas and to understand the mechanism that enables the wave propagation at the estuary up to wave breaking at the beach. In this paper, the SWAN model, [1], is applied to study wind generated waves at an area near Alfeite beach to characterize the wave conditions at the Tagus estuary considering the actual wind and tide conditions as observed on the 3rd of October, 2006. A comparison of SWAN numerical results with the wave elevation measurements collected at the site with resistive wave gauges and also with a pressure transducer, taking into account the influence of the ferries crossing the study area, is made and discussed.