Coastal wave modelling in the World Surfing Reserve of Ericeira

Coastal wave modelling in the World Surfing Reserve of Ericeira

What did this initiative focus on?

This Bilateral Initiative (BI) takes place between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), developer of the oceanic wave modeling tool REEF3D::FNPF, and blueOASIS (bO), a Portuguese company focused on ocean's sustainability.

bO has ties with local communities in Portugal and wants to take advantage of its strong focus on R&D projects to collaborate with Portuguese coastal municipalities in better understanding how its coast and respective structures are affected by local ocean wave dynamics. In this BI the study case will be the World Surfing Reserve of Ericeira, where the waves and coastal structures are very important for the local economy.

In order to protect and preserve both natural and man-made structures that support these communities, in light of the effects of climate change in the ocean dynamics, it is necessary to use innovative approaches to model and predict it, namely through the usage of state-of-the-art numerical tools. NTNU is the developer of one of such tools to model ocean dynamics, REEF3D::FNPF, a fully non-linear potential flow code, massively parallelized, that has already been applied to some locations over the Norwegian coast. Therefore, the objective of this BI is to establish a partnership between NTNU and bO, to transfer knowledge of the tool, both at a usage and technical level, and apply it to a Portuguese case study, to be presented in a conference, published in an open-access peer-reviewed publication, shared with local stakeholders in a public seminar, and used as basis for future collaboration between both entities in further developing REEF3D::FNPF and participation in other ocean sustainability projects.