Analysis swan hindcast tidal inlet of Ameland : storm events of 8 February 2004 and 2, 8 January 2005

An analysis was made of the results of the SWAN hindcast study for the tidal inlet of Ameland performed by WL|Delft Hydraulics in 2006. Results of five storm events in February 2004 and January 2005 were analyzed. Attention was paid to the general set-up of the study, the convergence behaviour of SWAN, the magnitude of physical processes and integral wave parameters. A limited sensitivity study of model settings was carried out. An assessment was of the reliability of the results obtained with this hindcast, and recommendations for further improvements of SWAN have been formulated. The results indicate that SWAN generally under-predicts the wave conditions in the tidal inlet, but that they are over-predicted south of the tidal inlet. Long period North Sea waves do not penetrate into the Waddensea through the main channel. Instead they are found more to the west on the shallows. In the tidal inlet the processes of surf breaking and triad interactions are dominant. Further into the Waddensea, the wave conditions are mainly determined by local effects.