Abstract: An operational forecasting system for nearshore waves and wave-induced currents is presented. The forecasting system (FS) has been built to provide real time information about nearshore conditions for beach safety purposes. The system has been built in a modular way with four different autonomous submodels providing, twice a day, a 36-hour wave and current forecast, with a temporal resolution of 1 hour. Making use of a mild slope parabolic model, the system propagates hourly deep water wave spectra to the shore. The resulting radiation stresses are introduced in a depth-integrated Navier-Stokes model to derive the resulting current fields. The system has been implemented in a beach located in the northeastern part of Mallorca Island (western Mediterranean), characterized by its high touristic pressure during summer season. The FS has been running for 3 years and is a valuable tool for local authorities for beach safety management.

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