Early Warning System for Coastal Hazards in Thermaikos Gulf (Aegean Sea)

Thermaikos Gulf (TG) in the northwestern Aegean Sea (east-central Mediterranean) is a data-scarce area in terms of in situ monitoring. At the same time, it is a hotspot for significant anthropogenic pressures and natural hazards (Androulidakis et al., 2024a). This situation necessitates reliable metocean forecasts. To this end, the Wave4Us (https://wave4us.web.auth.gr/) Operational Forecast Platform (OFP; Krestenitis et al., 2015; Androulidakis et al., 2025) provides high-resolution model predictions for weather conditions, ocean circulation, Sea Level Elevation (SLE), wave characteristics, and river discharges (Figure 1). Based on these, it simulates coastal hazards like pollutant transport (oil spills and nutrients), Marine Heat Waves (MHW; Androulidakis et al., 2024b) and coastal flooding. This study presents the potential of the OFP’s outputs and evaluates its predictive skill using satellite and field data, confirming its accuracy. The results highlight Wave4Us as a reliable tool for environmental impact assessment that can serve as the basis of an Early Warning System (EWS) for emergency response in the region.