The harnessing of renewable sources of marine energy has become a promising solution for a number of problems, namely satisfying the increasing demand for electricity, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the provision of energy to regions unconnected to a national grid. Tropical countries have an interesting dichotomy: Despite their varied potential sources of marine energy, their environmental and social conditions impose severe constraints on the development of a renewable energy industry. Moreover, the exploitation of these opportunities is limited by national economies’ reliance on fossil fuels, political and social restraints, and technological immaturity. The present work addresses challenges and opportunities common to wave energy implementation in tropical nations, as a first approach to a regional diagnosis. The motivation for this work is to encourage research on wave energy policies in the Tropics. Technical, environmental, and social challenges to be overcome in wave energy projects are discussed. The technical challenges are grouped into development, deployment, and operation stages of wave energy converters; environmental challenges are divided into biodiversity, cumulative effects, and monitoring aspects, whilst social issues include population growth and energy access matters. The Mexican strategy for developing sustainable technology throughout the wave energy production chain is also presented.

S: Central American cold surge outbreaks, known as Nortes, are standard features of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) climate, having significant oceanic and atmospheric impacts over the region that are essential for the marine ecosystem. Fifteen years of analysis of weather reports showed that Nortes occur within a 9 months window (September to May), with a total number of 24 ± 5 episodes per season. On average, there were 2.5 ± 1 events per month, lasting between 1 and 3 days with a maximum duration of 13 consecutive days. A Principal Component Analysis of 15 years of in situ observations identified the air temperature (41.6% of the explained variance) and the wave height (36.3%) as the two main drivers of these events impacts. Cluster Analysis to these same data categorized the Nortes into three types: Moderate, Strong, and Severe, based on the environmental impact caused in the GoM. These events tend to transit between categories as they lose strength while travelling to southern latitudes. Severe events are more frequent in the northwestern coast, occurring from January to March, whereas moderate events are more common in the middle of the GoM during September–December. Our results showed that Nortes increase the wind stress over the sea surface, rising the height and period of the waves over the southwestern and central GoM. Nortes also disturb the sea‐level and the surface currents, provoking high amplitude oscillations along the coasts, and accelerating and shifting the currents towards the southwest. Nortes bring cold, dry air that cools the ocean surface and the lower atmosphere and diminishes its relative humidity, which, together with the wind velocity increments, promote a positive sensible and latent heat flux maximized on the northwestern and western coasts.

Most experimental research on land-fixed Oscillating Water Column (OWC) systems assume that the OWC-water wave interaction happens with waves that propagate normally towards the device. However, the angle of incidence of the waves can determine the performance of the OWC, in particular the wave period at which the device resonates. In this study, an experimental investigation to examine the interaction of regular, oblique, water waves with a land-fixed, thick-front wall OWC device in terms of its hydrodynamic performance is reported. A 1:20 Froude scale was used to replicate a single chamber of the Mutriku Wave Energy Plant (MWEP), and a series of tests were carried out in a spectral wave basin. The goal of this study is to look at how incident wave direction and device location affect the hydrodynamic performance of land-fixed OWC systems in regular wave conditions with varying wave heights. The hydraulic performance includes the assessment of the wave amplification factor, hydrodynamic efficiency, the non-dimensional air pressure inside the chamber and non-dimensional water pressures on the chamber walls. The findings show that, for the nearshore OWC device, the period at which resonance occurs decreases when the incident wave angle increases. For the corresponding wave angles, similar results were found for the onshore and nearshore OWC devices, with a slight frequency shift in the bandwidth of the hydrodynamic efficiency. Furthermore, it was found that when wave height increases, the hydrodynamic efficiency improves for both short and long wave periods, with the exception of the resonance period, where the trend is reversed. Finally, regardless of the location, an OWC device with a thick front wall performs well when interacting with intermediate and long-period waves.

Mangrove forests have proven to be resilient to most environmental change, surviving catastrophic climate events over time. Our study aimed to evaluate the chemical variability of pore water and its effect on phenological production in three mangrove species (Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans, and Laguncularia racemosa) along the coast of the state of Campeche during a year of severe drought (2009) and a year of average precipitation (2010). Pore water salinity and redox potential were measured monthly in a mangrove forest in 2009 and 2010. Litterfall production and reproductive phenology was measured monthly. We determined the relationships among litterfall production, reproductive phenology, pore water chemistry and precipitation of three species between years. Precipitation, pore water salinity and redox potential significantly differed among years, seasons and sites, and also showed significant interaction between years and seasons (p < 0.05). Significant variation was observed in litterfall production, propagules, flowers, and leaf litter among sites (p < 0.05). A significant change was observed in propagules and flowers among years, and in total litterfall and leaf litter between seasons and species (p < 0.05). Under severe drought, salinity had the strongest effect on total litterfall and propagules in R. mangle, while A. germinans, had the strongest effect on propagule/flower precipitation. Both A. germinans and L. racemosa showed higher resilience than R. mangle at all sites under severe drought conditions. These findings can support activity allocation for mangrove conservation and restoration by providing the tolerance thresholds of the three species that dominate in the regional area of Campeche state. Likewise, this research provides knowledge to the Intergovernmental Experts Group on climate change about drought intensity and its magnitude of impact on mangrove productivity, reproduction and integrity.