*5.1. Wave Climate*

The wave climate for the case study coast has been inferred from the MEDA-A buoy, an Acoustic Doppler Current Profile (ADCP), located approximately 800 m offshore from the bay (Figure 14a). The device is located at a depth of about 19 m below the low tide level, at a Latitude of 40◦48.550 N and a Longitude of 14◦09.300 E. Significant wave height, *Hs*, peak period, *T*p, and azimuth of the mean wave direction, α, have been recorded in the period 2015–2018, with a large "white spot" interval detected, from 6 December 2016 to 22 March 2019. The histogram of wave direction for angular sectors of 22.5◦ N is shown in Figure 14b, where the offshore directed waves have been removed for sake of clearness. The graph exhibits how the bay is exposed to waves coming from a relatively narrow wave sector, included between 150 to 240◦ N, with a clear mode in the Southern quadrants (180◦–210◦ N). It is important to highlight that, despite the short recorded time interval of the buoy (only three years), we employed its data, taking the advantage of being placed in the near-shore zone, bypassing all the procedures concerning the determination and propagation of the offshore wave climate (procedures which involve a certain degree of uncertainty, however).

**Figure 14.** (**a**) Location of the MEDA-A buoy; (**b**) histogram of wave direction for angular sectors of 22.5◦ N.
