CLIMATE CONTROL ON WINTER WAVE ACTIVITY IN THE NORTHEAST ATLANTIC AND IMPACTS ON BEACH EROSION AND RECOVERY ALONG THE WEST COAST OF EUROPE

Abstract

The west coast of Europe is exposed to high-energy winter waves generated in the North Atlantic Ocean by low pressure systems traveling eastward. The present study builds on recent research on atmospheric and ocean wave climate in the North East Atlantic over the last 70 years using numerical weather and wave hindcast, in-situ sea-level pressure measurements, and beach response from a unique dataset of decadal beach morphological changes along the west coast of Europe. Interannual to decadal variability of winter wave activity in the North East Atlantic is strongly affected by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the West Europe Pressure Anomaly (WEPA). It is found that extreme winter-mean wave heights become more frequent and variability increases, resulting in extreme winters such as that of 2013/14. We show that the recovery signature is site-specific and multi-annual, and that interannual variability of both erosion and recovery is well correlated with WEPA and NAO.