Adcirc An Advanced Three Dimensional Circulation Model For Shelves Coasts And Estuaries Report 4 Hurricane Storm Surge Modeling Using Large Domains

This report investigates the use of large domains in modeling hurricane storm surge. The hydrodynamic model used in this study is the ADCJIRC-2DDI code, which is based on a two-dimensional, depth-integrated, finite element formulation. Hurricane wind stress and pressure forcing from Hurricane Kate are produced by the HURWIN code, a vertically averaged planetary boundary layer wind model. Storm surge predictions are conducted over three computational domains, which have varying sizes. The smallest domain covers the continental shelf, another domain includes the Gulf of Mexico, and the final domain is quite large and extends into the deep ocean. Domains over the continental shelf and the Gulf of Mexico are shown to be inadequate for modeling hurricane storm surge. On the contrary, a large domain, which includes the Western North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, is optimal for use with storm surge models. The influence of an inverted barometer condition applied at the open boundary is examined for each computational domain. Circulation model, Numerical model, Finite element method, Storm surge model, Hurricane surge model, Two-dimensional model, Hydrodynamic model.

This report summarizes results of a numerical storm surge study conducted for the east coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. The report describes a database of surge elevations and currents produced from the numerical simulation of 134 historically based tropical storm events and their maximum water level surge impact at 486 discrete locations along the east and gulf coasts of the United States and Puerto Rico. A visual indication of the spatial distribution of the peak surge elevation is provided in the form of an atlas of storm track and maximum storm surge corresponding to a 246-station nearshore subset of the 486-location database. The simulated events used to generate the results contained in this report are not intended to be hindcasts of historic events. The goal was to provide a database of events similar to historic events which can be used to evaluate project response to, or protection afforded from, events which are realistic in both magnitude and duration for a specific location. If use of the database indicates a more detailed study is necessary, then the modeling techniques described in this report can be used to hindcast specific events. This hindcasting procedure requires detailed verification of the storm event by comparing computed results to prototype data, a procedure which was beyond the scope of this study.