Wind wave measurements and modelling in Küdema Bay, Estonian Archipelago Sea

Abstract The wind wave climate of the Kudema Bay, situated northwest of Saaremaa Island, has been analyzed on the basis of wave measurements carried out in the summer and autumn of 2005, with the use of the third-generation spectral wave model SWAN. The analysis of wave data sets has shown that the wind waves in the Kudema Bay were dominated by locally generated fetch-limited wind waves. The average significant wave height was 16 cm for summer deployment, and 24 cm for autumn deployment, respectively. That low wave climate mainly results from the climatic conditions where the winds are frequently blowing from the mainland, and when fetch length of waves is less than 2 nmi. The strongest wave event, where significant wave height reached 1.5 m, was associated with the north-westerly winds with speeds of up to 13.3 m/s. Significant wave heights obtained with the wave model were well correlated with the measured ones, whereas the model strongly underestimated the peak-periods of waves. It can be concluded that the typical wave climate of the bay is rather soft, but high waves are expected with north-westerly winds.