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Evaluation of the Worldwide Wave Energy Distribution Based on ERA5 Data and Altimeter Measurements

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  • Liliana Rusu

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, ‘Dunarea de Jos’ University of Galati, 47 Domneasca St., 800 008 Galati, Romania)

  • Eugen Rusu

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, ‘Dunarea de Jos’ University of Galati, 47 Domneasca St., 800 008 Galati, Romania)

Abstract

There is an increasing necessity in reducing CO 2 emissions and implementing clean energy technologies, and over the years the marine environment has shown a huge potential in terms of renewable energy. From this perspective, extracting marine renewable energy represents one of the most important technological challenges of the 21st century. In this context, the objective of the present work is to provide a new and comprehensive understanding concerning the global wave energy resources based on the most recent results coming from two different databases, ERA5 and the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative for Sea State. In this study, an analysis was first made based only on the ERA5 data and concerns the 30-year period of 1989–2018. The mean wave power, defined as the energy flux per unit of wave-crest length, was evaluated at this step. Besides the spatial distribution of this parameter, its seasonal, inter, and mean annual variability was also assessed on a global scale. As a second step, the mean wave energy density per unit horizontal area was analyzed for a 27-year period (1992–2018) with both ERA5 and the satellite data from the European Space Agency being considered. The comparison indicates a relatively good concordance between the results provided by the two databases in terms of mean wave energy density, although the satellite data indicate slightly higher energy values.

Suggested Citation

  • Liliana Rusu & Eugen Rusu, 2021. "Evaluation of the Worldwide Wave Energy Distribution Based on ERA5 Data and Altimeter Measurements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:2:p:394-:d:479145
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    Cited by:

    1. Eugen Rusu, 2022. "Marine Renewable Energy: An Important Direction in Taking the Green Road towards a Low Carbon Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-3, July.
    2. Zeng, Yuxin & Shi, Wei & Michailides, Constantine & Ren, Zhengru & Li, Xin, 2022. "Turbulence model effects on the hydrodynamic response of an oscillating water column (OWC) with use of a computational fluid dynamics model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    3. Yang, Zhaoqing & García Medina, Gabriel & Neary, Vincent S. & Ahn, Seongho & Kilcher, Levi & Bharath, Aidan, 2023. "Multi-decade high-resolution regional hindcasts for wave energy resource characterization in U.S. coastal waters," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 803-817.
    4. Eugen Rusu, 2021. "Special Issue “Advances and Challenges in Harvesting Ocean Energy”," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-4, July.
    5. Rusu, Liliana, 2022. "The near future expected wave power in the coastal environment of the Iberian Peninsula," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 657-669.
    6. Ulazia, Alain & Saenz-Aguirre, Aitor & Ibarra-Berastegui, Gabriel & Sáenz, Jon & Carreno-Madinabeitia, Sheila & Esnaola, Ganix, 2023. "Performance variations of wave energy converters due to global long-term wave period change (1900–2010)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).

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