FUTURE CHANGES IN THE BLACK SEA WAVE POWER UNDER TWO CLIMATE SCENARIOS

Climate change will have impacts on wave power resources due to changes in the spatial and temporal characteristics of wave climate. The Black Sea (BS) wind and wave climate is vulnerable to possible climate change impacts with significant rates (Islek et al.2021, lslek et al. 2022). Therefore, determining projected changes in wave power potential is critically important not only for the construction of reliable offshore and coastal structures but also for the semi-closed basin ecology. The main purpose of this study is to (i) determine the future wave power potential and (ii) reveal significant projected changes in the BS wave power resources for the next 80 years (2021−2100). Moreover, this study is the first attempt to detect the projected effective wave height (EWHO) and wave power occurrences using the key indicator of ‘Energy Level Occurrence’ proposed by Zheng and Li (2011) (Available Level Occurrence ALO, Moderate Level Occurrence MLO, and Rich Level Occurrence RLO). These key indicators make it possible to better understand the future availability of wave power potential.