Wave power exposure for South Africa

The spatial dataset is provided as a line shapefile and indicates the average annual and seasonal wave power (kW/m of wave crest). The original model outputs (The wave power atlas for South Africa, doi: 10.15493/DEFF.10000003) were written out at the 7m and 15m bathymetry contour lines using the numerical code, Simulating WAves in the Nearshore (SWAN). Averages are based on stationary, coastal, spectral wave model computations. The simulation period is at a three-hourly resolution spanning from 1997 until 2013. Saturated, wind wave computations and swell computations were executed separately. The combined product presented here were thus the result of total wave energy addition.

The wave power averages are presented here in terms of coastal wave exposure classifications. Through this classification the South African coastline can thus readily be understood in terms of total and seasonal experienced wave exposure. These range from fully sheltered to fully exposed and is based on widely accepted literature. Tidal fluctuations were not taken into account.