Accu-Waves: An Operational System for Wave Forecasts Supporting Ship Navigation Around and Inside Seaports (original) (raw)
Related papers
Validation and Application of the Accu-Waves Operational Platform for Wave Forecasts at Ports
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2024
This paper presents a recently developed Operational Forecast Platform (OFP) for prevailing sea conditions at very important ports worldwide (Accu-Waves). The OFP produces reliable high-resolution predictions of wave characteristics in and around ocean ports. Its goal is to support safer navigation, predict possible port downtime, assist vessel approaching, enhance management of towing services, and bolster secure ship maneuvering in busy ports around the globe. Accu-Waves OFP is based on integrated, high-resolution wave modeling over the continental shelf and in coastal areas that incorporates data from global- and regional-scale, open-sea wave and ocean circulation forecasts as boundary conditions. The coupling, nesting, calibration, and implementation of the models are reported and discussed in this paper, concerning 50 selected areas near and inside significant port basins. The detailed setup of the Accu-Waves OFP and its sub-system services is also provided regarding three-day forecasts at three-hourly intervals. The validation of the wave forecast system against in situ observations from wave buoys in coastal areas of the USA, Belgium, and Spain, as well as other model predictions by established OFPs, seems very promising, with performance skill scores ranging from adequate to very good. An exceptional case of stormy seas under severe marine weather conditions with very high wave maxima (>10 m) in the port of Algeciras is further discussed, confirming the good performance of the Accu-Waves OFP.
Proceedings of the 31st International Ocean and Polar Engineering (ISOPE) Conference, 2021
This paper presents a novel initiative for reliable high-resolution forecasts on prevailing sea states at 50 important ports worldwide (Accu-Waves; http://accuwaves.eu/). Its goal is to support safe navigation, unhampered vessel approaching to busy harbored areas, and secure ship maneuvering in ports. Accu-Waves 1 is based on integrated, high-resolution, ocean and coastal modeling that uses data from global scale, open-sea forecasts as boundary conditions. The models' setup, coupling, nesting, calibration, verification, and application are reported herein, concerning areas near and inside globally significant port basins. Thus, we present the automated operational setup of the Accu-Waves service for three-day forecasts at three-hourly intervals.
Evaluation of a high-resolution wave forecasting system for the approaches to ports
Ocean Engineering, 2013
The objective of the present work is to analyse the performance of a high-resolution wave forecasting system to provide accurate real time information about the sea states in the neighbourhood of the Portuguese ports. Pre-operational tests with the SWAN model, including calibrations and validations of the results in medium and high resolution areas, were carried out for an eight-month period starting with October 2010. All the three formulations, available in SWAN version 40.81 for wave generation by wind and dissipation by whitecapping, were investigated at various computational levels of the wave modelling system. The results show that the prediction accuracy in the nearshore is considerably improved by including areas with higher resolution, especially in the cases when accurate high resolution bathymetry and wind data are available. From the analysis of the wave statistics against buoy data, the most reliable model system configuration for the continental Portuguese nearshore was designed.
Accu-Waves: A decision support tool for navigation safety in ports
1st International Scientific Conference on Design and Management of Port Coastal and Offshore Works (DMPCO), 2019
The paper presents a decision support tool being developed to provide reliable forecasts on sea states prevailing at selected ports worldwide. The application will support approaching procedures of vessels to ports. It is based on cooperating , hydrodynamic models that derive data from global scale, open sea forecasts. The implementation of the project includes development and application of a hydrodynamic circulation model, a spectral wave propagation model and a phase-resolving wave model for port basins; model integration; and materialising a cloud-based forecast platform that will provide wind, wave, sea level and current data for a 3-day forecast every 3 hours. The laboratories of Harbour Works (NTUA) and Maritime Engineering (AUTh) will offer the research background while the third partner MarineTraffic will implement the on-line forecast platform for the end-users. The results of this applied research will lead to innovative products that will address significant needs such as increase of navigation safety at ports, facilitation of port pilotage operations, and improved port layouts.
Applied Mathematical Modelling, 2020
In this paper, we present recent evolvements of three robust numerical models for the simulation of the evolution of wave fields and hydrodynamic circulation in gulfs and coastal areas with large harbours and significant urban port facilities. The models are integrated into a single software suite for the development of a decision support tool to provide reliable forecasts of sea states prevailing at selected important ports worldwide. The application of the integrated modelling platform is designed to support approaching procedures of vessels to ports and it is based on co-operating, high-resolution, hydrodynamic (ocean and wave) models that derive input data and boundary conditions from global scale or regional, open sea and weather forecasts. The implementation of short-term forecasts for sea conditions includes the development, validation, coupling, and operational application of: i) the High Resolution Storm Surge (HiReSS) model for sea level variations; ii) the 3rd generation spectral wave model called TELEMAC-based Operational Model Addressing Wave Action Computation (TOMAWAC) for irregular wave propagation in offshore and coastal areas; and iii) a high resolution phase-resolving wave model (WAVE-L) for port basins, based on the hyperbolic mild-slope equations. This innovative product, designed for port-related endusers, will improve the navigation safety at ports, optimize the berth occupancy, support the port pilotage operations, mooring and towage procedures, and may facilitate the port layout upgrade or design. Hereby, pilot forecast implementations are presented concerning the Mediterranean Sea and eight selected harbours in it.
WAVE-L: An integrated numerical model for wave propagation forecasting in harbor areas
1st International Scientific Conference on Design and Management of Port Coastal and Offshore Works (DMPCO), 2019
In this paper we present the evolvement of an integrated numerical model (WAVE-L) for the simulation of wave propagation and transformation in areas around and inside ports and harbors. WAVE-L is a high-resolution phase-resolving wave model based on the hyperbolic mild-slope equations, capable of simulating the transformation of complex wave fields over varying bathymetries in harbors and coastal areas in the vicinity of ports. The modeled wave processes include shoaling, refraction, diffraction, total and partial reflection from structures, energy dissipation due to wave breaking and bottom friction in a combined way. The new version of WAVE-L incorporates wave generation simulated on any boundary (longitudinal, lateral or oblique) with corresponding expansion of peripheral sponge layers, providing potential to spatially restrict the computational field in areas adjacent to ports, thus reducing demand of computational time and resources. Moreover, the modified WAVE-L version is able to simulate quasi-irregular, multi-directional waves, whose generation and propagation may furthermore account for various angles and directions simultaneously. WAVE-L is one-way coupled to coarser implementations of an open-sea spectral wave model and a 2-DH hydrodynamic circulation model for storm surges that provide input and boundary conditions. WAVE-L model is thoroughly validated against experimental data on diffraction and multidirectional spectral wave propagation; pilot implementations of it are carried out at the Greek port basin of Thessaloniki. The ultimate goal is to create a tool for high-resolution operational forecasts of wave conditions around and inside significant ports with high traffic load and commercial value (project Accu-Waves).
Intercomparison of the Performance of Operational Ocean Wave Forecasting Systems with Buoy Data
Weather and Forecasting, 2002
The monthly exchange of ocean wave model data has successfully been taking place among five operational weather centers. The data are compared with observations obtained from moored buoys and platforms. The analysis of 3 yr of data has helped to quantify the global and regional skills, strengths, and weaknesses of the different ocean wave forecasting systems. Since the quality of ocean wave forecasts is intrinsically linked to the quality of the forcing wind fields, it is not surprising to find that the center with the lowest wind speed errors also has the lowest wave height errors. The benefit of using a third-generation Wave Model (WAM), for example, is not so tangible in terms of wave height statistics but it is definitively evident in terms of peak periods. Even though WAM has proved to be well suited for global wave forecasting, it is also clear that research is still needed to reduce the model tendency to underpredict some storms when it is forced by operational global wind fields. It appeared that assimilating altimeter wave heights has a positive impact on the model performance. It is also argued that the height of the wind speed observations should be taken into account when assimilating the data or simply when evaluating model performance since it might otherwise introduce a systematic negative bias into the analysis. Last, this exchange of data should continue and possibly extend to other forecasting centers as a tool for model developers but also as a continuous reference for marine forecasters.
This paper describes the operational wave forecasting system that has been implemented at the Portuguese Institute for Ocean and Atmosphere (IPMA) along the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula. This system is based on the Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) model, is forced at the boundaries by the Limited-Area Wave (LAW) model forecasts generated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and by the 10m wind fields from the ALADIN atmospheric model. Moreover, the performance of three SWAN whitecapping parameterizations is evaluated. This evaluation is performed for significant wave height, mean wave period and mean wave direction forecasts through comparisons with observations from four buoys over a 6 months period. Finally, a short evaluation of the operational version of SWAN model at IPMA during the recent Christina Storm is presented.