4. Discussion
A proper numerical modelling of any system requires a previous
elementary knowledge of the functioning system. Which are the main
forcing factors and which are the spatial and temporal scales that
must be solved are basic questions that must be answered before any
model implementation. For the Barcelona harbour, in particular, these
answers were unknown. As a consequence, our first task is to gain
insight into the functioning system. It must be noted that the aim is
not to fully describe the harbour's hydrodynamics but to identify
which elements must be included in the modelling system. With this
goal in mind, the combination of field data and numerical experiments
helps us to determine the requirements for the numerical
model.