EVALUATING THE VALIDITY OF ISWM PROJECT RESULTS IN THE CASPIAN SEA USING RECENT FIELD MEASURMENT DATA

Wave hindcasting projects for Iranian seas started about fifteen years ago under supervision and management of Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO). During therecent years, several other hindcasting projects have also been carried out by different marine consultants for complementing previous studies, improving thehindcasting results and establishment of a reliable wave climate for the Iranian seas. The validity of wind field pattern is one of the key factors affecting the accuracy ofwave hindcasting results. The first wave hindcasting project entitled Iranian Seas Wave Modeling (ISWM) has been performed by Iranian National Center for Oceanography (INCO) with the assistance of DHI Water and Environment in the CaspianSea, Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. Wind dataset used in ISWM Project is based on ECMWF (European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting) wind field but with modification in the southern part of the Caspian Sea. Although a relatively long time has passed from the completion of this project, its results are still reliable and are utilized by researchers and consultants for design of marine structures. Despite comprehensive utilization of ISWM project results during the last decade, there have been some ambiguities regarding the accuracy of the applied wind field and the modification procedure that was exerted to it. There has been a good consistency between the wave measurement data and the ISWM project resultsespecially in the Caspian Sea. Nevertheless, the re-analysis of ECMWF wind data and re-examining the proposed procedure for modification of ECMWF wind dataset is asuitable measure for verification of ISWM project outcome for applying this data in the future projects. It should be noted that short period of ISWM project data (12 years) is one of its weakness when applied for extreme value analysis which is expected to be resolved by complementary hindcasting projects.