Extreme Wind Wave Heights and Their Trends in the Coastal Regions of the Black Sea

Extreme wind waves occurring during storms are a major natural hazard for the maritime economy on the one hand and a driver of various natural processes, e. g. the erosion of coastlines, on the other. Assessing the extreme values of wind wave heights and their long-term trends is crucial for coastal and offshore engineering and climate change studies. This study is dedicated to the values and long-term trends of extreme wave heights in the Black Sea. A 73-years long reanalysis is applied for the study. In order to additionally validate the reanalysis, data on wave heights form the Saral/AltiKa satellite altimeter is used. 19 locations along the coastline of the Black Sea are selected for the analysis of wind wave data. Maximal significant wave heights exceed 8.5 m along the southwestern coast of the Crimean Peninsula. Besides, 99.9th, 99th and 95th percentiles of significant wave heights are assessed. The long-term linear trends of these values are in general not statistically significant except of one location in case of maximal significant wave heights and two locations in case of 95th percentile of significant wave heights.