Projections of wind and wave climate on the main routes of the Mediterranean and Black Seas

Shipping is one of the key drivers of Europe's economy. Climate change, one of the most important research issues of our century, is unfortunately affecting maritime traffic and shipping conditions. Some of the most vulnerable areas in Europe in terms of the consequences of climate change are the Mediterranean and Black Seas, which are semi-enclosed basins and wave conditions react faster to changes in wind fields. Both seas are important for Central European countries as they provide a link to the Atlantic Ocean, Asia, and Africa. Routes along these European seas have been known and used since ancient times, and in this area, we find some of the busiest shipping corridors where one-third of the world's world shipping passes each year. This paper aims to study how the wind and wave climate will evolve in the mid-term for this region under two emission scenarios. Wind fields provided by Regional Climate Models under two Representative Concentration Pathways are used for wind climate analysis and also to force the SWAN model to simulate the sea state conditions.