Wave Hindcast Study of the Caspian Sea

The significant effect of waves on coastal and marine activities urges the precise identification of wave characteristics using field measurements, theoretical studies, physical modeling or numerical simulations. In order to study thoroughly the wave climate in the Caspian Sea, a wave modeling and hindcast project was performed by Iranian National Center for Oceanography. In this study, one of the latest versions of numerical wave models (3rd generation) was employed for long-term simulation of waves in the Caspian Sea using wind data. The wind field was obtained from ECMWF global operational model after a few local modifications were made. For calibrating the model, in-situ measurements and available satellite data were used. Extreme value analysis was the next stage in which for different return periods the wave characteristics were calculated. Finally, a user-friendly software was developed with the aim of presenting the results of the project.