Constitution et exploitation d'une base de données d'états de mer le long des côtes françaises par simulation numérique sur 23 ans : Base ANEMOC en Atlantique-Manche-mer du Nord

ABSTRACT A numerical wave data-base (called ANEMOC) has been built by hindcasting seastate conditions over a period of 23 years, from 1979 to 2002, with the TOMAWAC wave model. The wind fields used as input data come from the reanalysis ERA-40 of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Some statistical processing of the results have been performed, so as to build synthetic charts of the medium and severe wave conditions over the European continental shelf. Finally two different methods are proposed to estimate extreme wave heights with return periods larger than the simulated period. Both methods for statistical extrapolation are applied to a selection of points and compared.