Trend Detection of Wave Parameters along the Italian Seas

Abstract

In this paper, trend detection of wave parameters such as significant wave height, energy period, and wave power along the Italian seas was carried out. To this purpose, wave time series in the period 1979–2018 taken from the global atmospheric reanalysis ERA-Interim by European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) were considered. Choosing a significance level equal to 90%, the use of the Mann–Kendall test allowed estimating ongoing trends on the mean values evaluated at yearly and seasonal scale. Furthermore, the assessment of the magnitude of the increase/decrease of the wave parameters was performed through the Theil–Sen estimator. The obtained results underlined that the mean values of the considered wave parameters were characterized by a high occurrence of positive trends in the different Italian seas. The findings of this study could have implications for studies of coastal flooding, shoreline variations, and port operations, and for the assessment of the performances of Wave Energy Converters.