Wave Surge Coupling

The Consumer Option for an Alternative System to Allocate Losses (COASTAL) Act requires an accurate modeling of flooding due to hurricanes. A significant portion of flooding due to storm-induced hurricanes are caused by the interactions of wind-generated waves and the underlying surge – with radiation stresses from wave processes playing a significant role in the surge, and the combined wave–current bottom boundary dynamics being important for the both the wave and surge processes. Highly-sophisticated numerical models that separately simulate surge and wave processes have been developed and validated at NOAA over the last decade (the ADCIRC-based ESTOFS system for the surge modeling and WAVEWATCH III Global Multi-1 system for wave modeling). Apart from having state–of–the-art physics, these models can be run in unstructured grid formulation, a key requirement for seamlessly simulating inundation processes at small spatial scales along the coast. In this project, the two modeling systems will be dynamically coupled to exchange physical processes so as to obtain accurate estimates of total wave–surge induced inundation.

Wave Surge Coupling