Biography

Sonia Ponce de Leon has a large experience in ocean waves research. She has contributed to advancing the understanding of various aspects of ocean waves, including wave-current interaction, the effects of cyclones on the wave field, the influence of waves on the sea level rise, and renewable energy from ocean waves using satellite altimetry data and wave modeling.

She was a Visiting Scientist at the European Space Agency in 2022, ESA-ESRIN, in the Earth Observation Science, Applications and Climate Department. She worked in collaboration with the ESA’s altimetry experts Dr Jérôme Benveniste and Dr Marco Restano, on assessing wave power using high-resolution altimetry products. 

She has authored/co-authored more than 30 scientific publications in International Peer Review Journals. According to Scopus, the total number of citations is about 900, with an h-index of 15.

She has participated in several international peer-reviewed conferences, especially relevant for the ocean waves: European Space Agency Conferences and workshops OCEAN FROM SPACE, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry Symposium, Coastal Altimetry Workshop Atlantic from Space Workshops, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, WISE Meetings, ICCE, International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, and others. 

In 2023, she gave the Keynote: “Waves in the Coastal Zone,” at the 13th Coastal Altimetry Workshop & Coastal Altimetry Training held 6-10 February 2023, Universidad de Cádiz, Spain, where she also gave the Training course entitled: “Waves from Space in Synergy with Wave Modelling”.

She was Chairman of the European Space Agency, Coastal Altimetry Workshop 13th, and Chairman and Topic Organizer of the 37th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore, and Arctic Engineering in Madrid, Spain, 2018, from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers where more than 1400 abstracts were accepted.

Research

My research uses satellite observations to assess wave energy potential resources and trends. High-resolution satellite altimetry estimates (significant wave height and backscatter coefficient) are used to assess the wave renewable energy potential in the coastal zone, taking advantage of the increased time and spatial coverage of CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3 AB data processed with the coastal zone SAMOSA+ retracker. Applying an empirical model, I estimate the wave energy period needed to calculate the wave power density near coasts. Results are analyzed by season to show the time of the year and location where the resource is abundant and to predict how it will be in the coming years.
The investigation performed as ESA’s Visting Scientist was submitted for publication in Remote Sensing, Applied Ocean Research, and Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

In recent years, Sonia Ponce de León focused on extreme waves, wave-current interaction, remote sensing, ocean wave modeling, cyclones, and renewable energies. She developed a method to estimate the wave power resources using satellite altimetry data and wave buoys in the coastal zones.

In 2022, Sonia Ponce de León was a Visiting Scientist at the European Space Agency, ESA-ESRIN, in the Department of Earth Observation Applications and Climate, at the Science-Hub, where she developed research on assessing renewable energy from the ocean using satellite altimetry data in collaboration with ESA’s altimetry experts. This research resulted in the European Commission OCRE EO project: “Assessment of renewable wave energy resources in the coastal zone using high-resolution altimetry products”, of which she is the Principal Investigator.

The OCRE EO project consortium is formed by Earth Console® and CENTEC-Instituto Superior Tecnico de Lisboa. The high-resolution altimetry data has been processed through the ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab hosted in the EarthConsole®, and CENTEC is producing the assessment of the wave energy resource along the Atlantic coasts. The investigations performed as VS were already submitted to three journals (Remote Sensing, Applied Ocean Research, and Journal of Science and Engineering).

Publications

2024, Ponce de León, S.; Restano, M.; Benveniste, J. Assessing the Wave Power Density in the Atlantic French Façade from High-Resolution CryoSat-2 SAR Altimetry Data. Energy, ELSEVIER, 131712, ISSN 0360-5442, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2024.131712

2024, Ponce de León S., J.H. Bettencourt, J. V. Ringwood, J. Benveniste. Assessment of combined wind and wave energy in European coastal waters using satellite altimetry. Applied Ocean Research, Volume 152,104184, ISSN 0141-1187, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2024.104184

2023, Ponce de León, S.; Restano, M.; Benveniste, J. Assessment of Wave Power Density Using Sea State Climate Change Initiative Database in the French Façade. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023,11,1970. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11101970