Temporal-spatial variation of wave energy and nearshore hotspots in the Gulf of Oman based on locally generated wind waves

This study aims to assess the wave energy at five coastal stations in the Gulf of Oman using the time series of locally generated wind waves obtained by numerical modeling for 11 years. For this purpose, the spatial, seasonal, monthly, directional, inter-annual of wave energy and power were investigated. The spatial distribution shows that the wave power increases towards the Indian Ocean and the highest mean wave power is located at the eastern station in all seasons. In addition, monthly mean wave power is highest during July and August while the monthly maximum wave power is highest during February at all stations. The ratio of monthly maximum to mean wave power is also the lowest during May to August. Moreover, Monthly Variability Index is the highest in west of the domain where there is no significant wave power potential. In addition, annual wave power as well as total and exploitable wave energies increases from west to east, where the dominant waves propagate from the south, and the exploitable wave energy is approximately 20 times greater than of the central stations. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.