Wave exposure calculations for the Finnish coast

Abstract

Wave exposure is one of the major factors structuring the coastal environment, and is an important parameter in both coastal research and management. The aim of this project was to construct wave exposure grids covering the entire Finnish coast using the method SWM (Isæus 2004). A nested-grids technique was used to ensure long distance effects on the local wave exposure regime, and the resulting grids have a resolution of 25 m. The methods used and described in this report includes: evaluation of shoreline source map, division of shoreline into suitable calculation areas, converting shape features into grids, recalculation of wind data, calculation of fetch adjusted for refraction/diffraction effects, calculation of wave exposure grids, and merging the separate grids into a seamless description of wave exposure along the Finnish coast. The digital version of the grids was delivered to SYKE June 16 2005, and a printed version is found in Appendix 1.