Determining openness and energy filtering in coastal areas using geographic information systems

The filter factor is a type of wave fetch index for whole coastal areas used to describe the sheltering effect from islands. Apart from fetch, it also includes the cross-sectional areas between the studied area and the surroundings. Previously, the filter factor has shown correlation with, e.g., bottom dynamic conditions and deep water exchange, but has been difficult to calculate. In this paper, it is shown how to calculate the filter factor using modern Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Different aspects of the filter factor, such as the used number of lines, maximum line length, etc., were investigated using data from Swedish coastal areas. Possible improvements and simplifications were found that can both increase the correlation with bottom dynamic conditions and deep water exchange, but also substantially decrease the computation time. An alternative approach that calculates the proportion of islands in the outside region was also developed and tested with good results.