Climate change increases the size and strength of waves in coastal cities

Mohammad ALHADDAD

A recent study shows a positive relationship between the behavior of the seas and oceans and climate change. The higher the temperature, the more powerful the waves become, so the steady rise in sea level places coastal areas on the front line with the effects of climate change.

The study, published recently in the journal Nature Communications, focused on the energy of the ocean waves, which move from the wind and turn into a wave.

This measure - "wave power" - has been increasing as a direct result of sea-surface warming over the years. The warming of the oceans - measured as sea-level rise - has affected global wind patterns, which in turn makes ocean waves stronger.

Sea and ocean waves are mainly produced by the impact of wind power on the sea surface, but the present study is the first systematic study to examine the direct relationship between climate change with its different elements and wave behavior.

A team of researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, found that ocean wave energy is growing, in direct correlation with sea surface temperature rise. This makes waves stronger and marks the impact of climate change on the marine climate, which has yet to be studied.

The researchers have been able to verify the increase of wave energy in response to sea surface temperature rise by tracking historical data of wind waves and sea surface temperatures from 1948 to 2017. The results of the study revealed that between 2008 and 2017, the global wave strength increased by 0.47% per year.

Previous wave-wave studies have focused on certain criteria, such as wind speed and wave height, and have found changes in local areas, particularly in harsh climates. But the current study has focused on wave energy, called wave energy.

Wave energy is the energy transferred from the wind to the ocean and generates waves that cross the ocean and transfer this energy to our coastal lines.

According to the study, the wave's strength includes some features that make it a good indicator of how the global wave climate is changing. This is important because it is why it can be a better indicator of long-term changes in the waveform than other indicators previously used.

The wave force collects information about both moderate and severe climatic conditions during different seasons, so it over time represents the amount of energy that existed.

However, this does not represent whether there is a particular sequence of storms that have been irregularly active during a particular season, as in the winter of 2013-2014 in the North Atlantic where it affected the west coast of Europe, or as occurs in the North Pacific During the years of El Nino.

This means that there are two sites that may have similar wave-wave values, but they vary greatly in energy over a year depending on the activity of the storm, according to lead author Borga J. Reguero, of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Reguero told Al Jazeera Net that for the power of the global wave, he and his research team used three different global data sets (wave data from computer models), as well as data from satellites.

Explaining the relationship between climate change and wave behavior, Reguero said most of the heat imbalance affecting the Earth's system occurs in the oceans. Ocean heating is a critical sign of climate change.

"Our study shows that this affects the interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean, and in turn the wind and the waves that generate it and reach our shores." This is one of the potential uses of global wave power as a new indicator of climate change.

Their study shows that "wave energy is increasing in direct interconnection with sea-surface temperature, both globally and in open seas, which places the power of the wave as a new sign of climate change, similar to the global rise in sea level, Temperatures or concentration of carbon dioxide ".

The main author of the island explained that when waves become stronger they have direct impacts on coastal cities, because wave energy is directly related to coastal operations and has a direct impact on erosion and flooding. The wave is also shaping our coastal lines and influencing the choice of coastal infrastructure, such as ports and wave barriers.

Thus, changes in the movement of waves can affect navigation conditions, or even relate to the state and development of coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs and saline swamps.

In planning climate change adaptation, it would also be important to consider changes in wave movement, as well as sea level rise.

Reguero also noted that coastal cities could adapt to the risks of coastal hazards such as floods and erosion in various ways, including coastal protection measures, wavebreakers and blue carbon (mangroves and coastal saline).