Sea-Level Rise Effects on Storm Surge and Nearshore Waves on the Texas Coast: Influence of Landscape and Storm Characteristics
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 2
Abstract
Sea-level rise (SLR) estimates vary broadly, but most estimates predict significant increases in sea levels within the next century. Through the use of validated, coupled wave and hydrodynamic models, this study investigates SLR effects on storm surge and nearshore waves, including variation with coastal landscape type and storm characteristics. Both the wave and hydrodynamic models account for bottom friction based on land-use type, so the modeling procedure accounted for SLR-related changes to land cover, in addition to higher mean sea levels. Simulation of storms with similar meteorological characteristics and track but with landfall in the northeastern and southwestern coastal areas allowed examination of how the coastal features influenced the storm surge and wave response to increased sea levels. The simulation results analyzed here demonstrate that the relationship between storm surge and relative SLR (RSLR) varies between geographic region and storm scenario. The increase in an inundated area is linear in the north, and in the south, the inundated area approaches the northern values for similar storms asymptotically. Nearshore wave results indicate, as expected, that larger water depths created by positive RSLR and amplified surge allow larger waves to propagate into inland areas. For the Texas simulations, it was found that an increase in hurricane wind speeds of 25% is approximately equivalent to a RSLR of 0.5 m in terms of increased area of inundation impact. Because of the complexities of storm-surge dependency on storm strength, track, and local topography, there is no one-size-fits-all response to RSLR descriptive of all locations. Site-specific computer modeling should be used to evaluate the risk facing coastal communities.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ARCADIS. (2011). “ADCIRC based storm surge analysis of sea level rise in the Galveston Bay and Jefferson County area in Texas.” Rep. Prepared for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, Highlands Ranch, CO.
Atkinson, J., et al. (2011). “Flood insurance study: Coastal counties, Texas intermediate submission 2: Offshore water levels and waves.” Final Rep. developed for FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, Washington, DC.
Bender, C. J., Smith, J. M., Kennedy, A., and Jensen, R. (2013). “STWAVE simulation of Hurricane Ike: Model results and comparison to data.” Coast. Eng., 73, 58–70.
Bender, M. A., et al. (2010). “Modeled impact of anthropogenic warming on the frequency of intense Atlantic hurricanes.” Science, 327(5964), 454–458.
Bindoff, N. L., et al. (2007). “Observations: Oceanic climate change and sea level.” Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, S. Solomon, et al., eds., Cambridge University Press, New York.
Blain, C. A., Westerink, J. J., Luettich, R. A., and Scheffner, N. W. (1995). The influence of domain size and grid structure on the response characteristics of a hurricane storm surge model, Waterways Experiment Station, Department of the Army, Vicksburg, MS.
Bunya, S., et al. (2010). “A high-resolution coupled riverine flow, tide, wind, wind wave and storm surge model for southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Part I: Model development and validation.” Mon. Weather Rev., 138(2), 345–377.
Cardone, V. J., Cox, A. T., Greenwood, J. A., and Thompson, E. F. (1994). “Upgrade of the tropical cyclone surface wind field model.” Miscellaneous Paper CERC-94-14, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Cardone, V. J., Greenwood, C. V., and Greenwood, J. A. (1992). “Unified program for the specification of hurricane boundary layer winds over surfaces of specified roughness.” Contract Rep. CERC-92-1, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Christensen, J., et al. (2007). “Regional climate projections.” Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, S. Solomon, et al., eds., Cambridge University Press, New York.
Clough, J. S., Park, R. A., and Fuller, R. (2010). “SLAMM 6 beta technical documentation.” Warren Pinnacle Consulting, Waitsfield, VT.
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA). (2012). Louisiana’s comprehensive plan for a sustainable coast, Baton Rouge, LA.
Dean, R. G., and Dalrymple, R. A. (2002). Coastal processes with engineering applications, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Dietrich, J. C., et al. (2011). “Hurricane Gustav (2008) waves, storm surge and currents: Hindcast and synoptic analysis in southern Louisiana.” Mon. Weather Rev., 139(8), 2488–2522.
Emanuel, K. (2005). “Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years.” Nature, 436(7051), 686–688.
Emanuel, K. (2006). “Anthropogenic effects of tropical cyclone activity: Essay.” 〈http://wind.mit.edu/~emanuel/anthro2.htm#Essay〉 (Aug. 7, 2012).
FEMA. (1983). Flood insurance study for Harris County, Texas, Washington, DC.
FEMA. (2002). Flood insurance study for Galveston County, Texas (unincorporated areas), Washington, DC.
Houston, J. R., and Dean, R. G. (2011). “Sea-level acceleration based on U.S. tide gauges and extensions of previous global-gauge analyses.” J. Coast. Res., 27(3), 409–417.
Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET). (2007). “Performance evaluation of the New Orleans and southeast Louisiana hurricane protection system, Vol. IV—the storm (main text and technical appendices).” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
Kennedy, A. B., Gravois, U., and Zachry, B. (2011). “Observations of landfalling wave spectra during Hurricane Ike.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 137(3), 142–145.
Komen, G. J., Cavaleri, L., Donelan, M., Hasselmann, K., Hasselmann, S., and Janssen P. A. E. M. (1994). Dynamics and modelling of ocean waves, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Luettich, R., and Westerink, J. J. (2010). “ADCIRC: A (parallel) advanced circulation model for oceanic, coastal, and estuarine waters. User’s manual V49.” 〈http://adcirc.org/documentv49/ADCIRC_title_page.html〉 (May 11, 2012).
Massey, T. C., Anderson, M. E., Smith, J. M., Gomez, J., and Jones, R. (2011). “STWAVE: Steady-state spectral wave model user’s manual for STWAVE, version 6.0.” ERDC-SR-11-1, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Morris, J. T., Sundareshwar, P. V., Nietch, C. T., Kjerfve, B., and Cahoon, D. R. (2002). “Responses of coastal wetlands to rising sea level.” Ecology, 83(10), 2869–2877.
Morton, R. A., Bernier, J. C., and Barras, J. A. (2006). “Evidence of regional subsidence and associated interior wetland loss induced by hydrocarbon production, Gulf Coast region, USA.” Environ. Geol., 50(2), 261–274.
Mousavi, M. E., Irish, J. L., Frey, A. E., Olivera, F., and Edge, B. L. (2011). “Global warming and hurricanes: The potential impact of hurricane intensification and sea level rise on coastal flooding.” Clim. Change, 104(3–4), 575–597.
Paine, J. G. (1993). “Subsidence of the Texas coast: Inferences from historical and late Pleistocene sea levels.” Tectonophysics, 222(3–4), 445–458.
Ratcliff, J., and Smith, J. M. (2011). “Sea level rise impacts to military installations in lower Chesapeake Bay.” Proc., Solutions to Coastal Disasters 2011, ASCE, Reston, VA, 740–751.
Smith, J. M., Cialone, M. A., Wamsley, T. V., and McAlpin, T. O. (2010). “Potential impact of sea level rise on coastal surges in southeast Louisiana.” Ocean Eng., 37(1), 37–47.
Smith, J. M., Sherlock, A. R., and Resio, D. T. (2001). “STWAVE: Steady-state spectral wave model, user’s guide for STWAVE version 3.0.” ERDC/CHL SR-01-01, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Solomon, S., et al. (2007). “Technical summary.” Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, S. Solomon, et al., eds., Cambridge University Press, New York.
Thompson, E. F., and Cardone, V. J. (1996). “Practical modeling of hurricane surface windfields.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 122(4), 195–205.
Wamsley, T. V., Cialone, M. C., Smith, J. M., Ebersole, B. A., and Grzegorzewski, A. S. (2009). “Influence of landscape restoration and degradation on storm surge and waves in southern Louisiana.” J. Nat. Hazards, 51(1), 207–224.
Westerink, J. J., et al. (2008). “A basin- to channel-scale unstructured grid hurricane storm surge model applied to southern Louisiana.” Mon. Weather Rev., 136(3), 833–864.
Zervas, C. (2009). “Sea level variations of the United States 1854–2006.” Technical Rep. NOS CO-OPS 053, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Springs, MD.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 14, 2012
Accepted: Oct 16, 2012
Published online: Oct 17, 2012
Published in print: Mar 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.