Wave Climate and Trends for the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone Based on a 70-Year-Long Hindcast Dataset

Abstract

Nearshore marine systems provide multiple economic and ecological services to human communities. Several studies addressing the climate change stressors and the inappropriate use of the sea indicate a decline of coastal areas. An extensive monitoring of the most important marine sites and protected areas is crucial to design effective environmental-friendly measures to support the sustainable development of coastal regions. A 70-year-long wave climate analysis is presented to study the climatology of the area belonging to the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone, Italy. The analysis is based on the global atmospheric reanalysis developed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, validated through an observed buoy dataset recorded by the Italian Sea Wave Measurement Network. No significant long-term trends have been detected. The need to set up new monitoring stations has been pointed out by means of a hydrodynamic model developed at the regional scale, evaluating the effect of the local morphology on the nearshore wave climate and highlighting the importance of surveying the marine protected area of Capo Tirone located therein.