The 27th WISE meeting

The WISE meetings aim to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the physical processes involved in wave development and evolution from basin scale to the nearshore coastal environment. Wind waves represent a basic parameter of interest for marine applications. In the open ocean, they dictate the design and operational conditions of offshore structures and vessels. Close to the coast, the design and planning of any activity depend on waves and on the local environment they create. The impact of waves on coastline flooding and defense is also important.

It is now recognized that waves are a crucial component in coupled models of the Arctic. Waves not only play important roles in the break-up of the ice but also during the ice formation. 

Wind waves mediate the fluxes across the air-sea interface, i.e. momentum, energy, humidity, heat and aerosols. These transfers play a key role for atmosphere, ocean and sea ice dynamics. Modelling these exchanges is essential in the development of a fully coupled earth system model. It is also becoming increasingly evident that waves affect the boundary layers in both the atmosphere and the ocean.

The WISE meetings are also a forum to present and discuss novel techniques aimed at improving the numerics and reliability of wave models. Note that the meeting does not require any written proceedings; participants are therefore encouraged to freely present and discuss their latest results. Luigi encourages presentation of “negative results”, and we would like to take this opportunity to stress that it is more useful to present how and where we went wrong than to always present what went fine. If you’ve tried something and found that it didn’t work, chances are others will make the same mistake unless you warn them! Cavaleri et al (2019) summarize the spirit of the WISE meetings thus:

Within the present abundance of ocean wave physics and modeling meetings, Waves in Sea Environment (WISE) still keeps the original [from the Wave Model (WAM) meetings] purpose of a collective and open discussion of where the wave community is and wants to go. Although the increased popularity has now transcended the original purpose of a purely working workshop, the number of attendees is still limited enough to allow continuous discussion, helped also by the extended poster sessions full of personalized debates. WISE, held on a yearly basis, provides a rather general perspective of the present active branches of wave research. In this paper, we provide a compact list of, and comments on, the most recent results and the expected future developments. Following its original spirit of pure discussion, no written documentation is produced.
 

Bergen is a maritime city with long traditions in shipping and fisheries. More recently, offshore activity and fish farming have become essential to our economy. We now find that offshore wind is becoming increasingly important. The regional branch of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Bergen has forecast waves since the 1960s, and we expect wave forecasts to become even more important in the future. We are proud and happy to welcome you to Bergen for the next WISE meeting, 100 years after the regional forecast office was inaugurated. 

A word of caution about the weather. It is … variable. Although climatologically September is quite a good time of the year to visit, there are no guarantees, and if you like the outdoors (of which there is plenty - Mt Ulriken looms 643 m above us), sturdy boots and water-resistant clothes is recommended. But, the weather may also be on our side, in which case even swimming gear might come in handy!

Covid-19 and travelling to Norway:

We are hopeful that the meeting will go ahead as planned, but we are also acutely aware of the shifting conditions during the pandemic. We urge all potential participants to closely follow the travel advice of the Norwegian government. 

The meeting will be a hybrid event. All lectures will be presented via Zoom (a link and password has been provided before the meeting via the WISE e-mail list). If we are forced to cancel the physical meeting we will revert to an online meeting. See the registration form for further details on payment and possible reimbursements.

Welcome!