A changing wave climate in the Mediterranean Sea during 58-years using UERRA-MESCAN-SURFEX high-resolution wind fields

This study unravels 58-years (1961–2018) of wind-waves in the Mediterranean Sea (MS). A wave dataset was developed using model WAVEWATCH III forced with high-resolution (5.5 km) UERRA-MESCAN-SURFEX downscaled wind fields which better contain imprint local geomorphology compared to other, coarser datasets used previous studies. Thus, improving reliability and characterization wind-wave climate basin. Validation results revealed a higher performance than datasets, particularly on direction (θm), bias<1°. Climate variability at seasonal interannual scales, wind-seas swells distribution, long-term trends storminess mean extreme regimes were analysed. Results show slight swell influence over wind-sea hourly spectra large portion basin, excluding generation areas. We detected that western MS is most region an average three storms/year. Moreover, anomalies relative θm are (∼60°), opposing behaviours between winter summer. Finally, conditions mild values reaching 6 cm/decade less 2% absolute value, respectively.