FOCCUS WP9 MS9.1 Applications prototype: ESC1 - 1.2.3 - Western Black Sea Erosion Assessment

OverviewThe output from the GCOAST-BS model is provided as an example for the FOCCUS WP9 MS9.1 Applications prototype: ESC1-1.2.3 - Coastal erosion dynamics assessment of the North-Western Black Sea using cross-scale models. This prototype dataset demonstrates the application of GCOAST-BS in assessing coastal erosion. It is derived from simulations conducted with the Member State Coastal System GCOAST-BS, which utilizes a seamless, unstructured domain coupled model integrating hydrodynamic, wave, and sediment modules.

GCOAST-BS Setup for Northwestern Black Sea

The results presented here are derived from numerical experiments conducted using the hydrodynamic model SCHISM, coupled with the wave model WWM and the sediment transport model SED3D. The model setup is detailed in FOCCUS deliverables D6.1 and D8.1. For further information, please refer to the updated SCHISM manual available at https://ccrm.vims.edu/schismweb/schism_manual.html, as well as the list of related publications at https://ccrm.vims.edu/schismweb/schism_pubs.html.

Data Structure

This dataset includes four key fields relevant to coastal erosion assessment, provided in NetCDF format along with corresponding map plots (PNG). The model outputs are delivered in the file gcoast_bs_ESC1.nc, whose contents are detailed in the table below.

Variable 
Description
Unit/Content

lat
Latitude
Decimal degrees

lon
Longitude
Decimal degrees

taub_p95
95th percentile of combined bottom stress
Pa

sed_p95
95th percentile of near-bottom suspended sediment concentration
kg/m³

SWH_p95
95th percentile of wave significant height
m

taucr_p95
95th percentile of critical bottom stress, categorized: 0 = No risk, 1 = Low, 2 = Increased, 3 = High
Risk index (0–3)

References for resources used on the map plots:Thyng, K. M., Greene, C. A., Hetland, R. D., Zimmerle, H. M., & DiMarco, S. F. (2016). True colors of oceanography: Guidelines for effective and accurate colormap selection. Oceanography, 29(3), 9-13.Tian, D., Leong, W. J., Fröhlich, Y., Grund, M., Schlitzer, W., Jones, M., Toney, L., Yao, J., Tong, J.-H., Magen, Y., Materna, K., Belem, A., Newton, T., Anant, A., Ziebarth, M., Quinn, J., Uieda, L., & Wessel, P. (2025). PyGMT: A Python interface for the Generic Mapping Tools (v0.17.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17156962