Abstract
A coupled modeling system was implemented to characterize the wave conditions and assess the wave energy potential at Galway Bay using WAVEWATCH IIII (WWIII) for wave generation and deep water propagation and SWAN model for wave propagation in intermediate and shallow water. Wind fields were taken from ECMWF's ERA Interim data base. Validation tests were carried out for the period between 2007 and 2010 with buoy data so that the model's performance could be evaluated.
The wave parameters considered for the comparisons in the time domain are significant wave height and mean period. Statistical analysis of the results is made and its time series evolution is also presented. For the energy assessment an evaluation of the spatial distribution of wave power is done and, since Galway Bay is a quarter scale test site for wave energy devices, statistical results were presented for three years of data, providing statistics of the expected wave energy resource in the Bay.