Effectiveness of wave hindcasts for forcing medium-scale morphodynamic models

The effectiveness of wave hindcasts as a means of providing representative and continuous forcing conditions for medium-scale morphodynamic models applied to the German North Sea coast is verified in this study. An existing process-based morphodynamic model covering a coastal area between the Eider and Elbe estuaries was implemented. The wave schematization along the model open-sea boundaries was derived from high-resolution wave hindcasts over a 40-year observation period at 21 locations. The analysis was based on the results of model simulations covering periods of about 10 years. With appropriate adjustments to the derived wave characteristics, the representative wave forcing conditions proved to be capable of correctly reproducing medium-scale morphodynamic behavior integrated over large areas. The hindcasted data also proved to be suitable in continuous simulations for predicting morphological changes on a seasonal basis.