CONTRIBUTION OF SWELLS TO WAVE CLIMATE ALONG WITH THE SOUTH WESTERN BLACK SEA COAST

This study focusses on understanding contribution of swells to wave climate along with the south western coast of the Black Sea. For this, the simulated data from the nested SWAN model (Akpınar et al. 2015) at six locations off the south western coasts of the Black Sea for the period from 1979 to 2009 was used. To understand the dominant wave pattern in the study area, the wind sea and swell are classified based on the wave steepness expressed as the ratio between the significant wave height and the wave length (L = 1.56T2), where T is the mean wave period (Tm02). It is the same approach presented in Umesh et al. (2017). Ocean waves are classified based on Hm0/L as sea, young swell, mature swell and old swell as suggested in Thompson et al. (1984). According to the classification in both studies, locally generated waves or sea waves have steepness values greater than 0.025. Similarly, steepness less than 0.025 can be referred as swells. The swells are further classified as: old swells (Hm0/L < 0.004), mature swells (0.004 ? Hm0/L < 0.01) and young swells (0.01 ? Hm0/L < 0.025). The percentage of dominance of swells and seas for the different months in different years of the study period is examined at locations considered. The results show that swells (54%) have a slightly higher dominance in comparison with the sea waves (46%) at the study locations.