Estimating the wave climate for Güllük region using an acoustic doppler current profiler and effect of islands on swell

Abstract

Predicting the wave climate of a region is one of the main problems in coastal engineering studies. Since every structure related to the coastal zone is open to the effect of water waves, the characteristic behavior of the waves should be known. Moreover, in such structures, the bathymetric features of the site should be known as well as the wave characteristics. Studies on the wave climate of Aegean Sea along Turkish coasts are very limited and the Güllük Region has not been investigated separately. In this study, the area in scope is monitored in terms of long term and local meteorological statistics, real-time wave records using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and water quality parameters. Point measurements are combined with theoretical formulations to predict the wave climate in the region. The outcomes are utilized for statistical analyses and obtaining the best fit to a wellknown probability distribution, which indicated that the standardized generalized Gamma distribution best defines the wave characteristics in the region. However, it does not satisfy the goodness-of-fit tests. One of the most important findings of this study indicated WSW (230o-250o N) to be the most critical direction for swell waves from the 6 km wide gap between Greek Islands Leipsoi and Leros. These islands provide a natural barrier for the region against external waves such that the effective fetches are reduced to approximately 50 km inside the ring of islands except for the gap between Leipsoi and Leros, where the fetch is extended all the way to Island Naxos in that direction.