Regional Wave Modeling and Evaluation for the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
Accurate estimation of storm surge along the coasts subject to extreme storm conditions requires proper wind and pressure forcing and quantification of the wind waves resulting from local and far-field energy sources. This paper summarizes the steps involved in accurately representing the offshore wave climate for the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS) domain, defined from the United States–Canadian border in Maine to the Virginia–North Carolina border. The motivation of the regional wave modeling is to provide offshore boundary conditions for the simulation of extreme extratropical and synthetic tropical events to drive the nearshore wave and surge modeling efforts within the NACCS. The offshore wave conditions were estimated using the third-generation WAve Modelling (WAM) model. Value-added wind fields were defined for each of the four wave model grids (North Atlantic Ocean Basin, U.S. Coastal Regional scale, and two subregional-scale grid systems covering the NACCS coastal domain). Five tropical events (Hurricanes Sandy, Irene, Isabel, and Gloria and Tropical Storm Josephine) and 17 extratropical events were simulated to evaluate WAM’s performance. Model results were compared with 30 point-source measurements available during these storm events. Time, scatter, and quartile-quartile plots; Taylor diagrams; and a battery of statistical tests were used in the evaluation process. The WAM provided quality zero-moment wave height estimates, with biases in the range of −0.07 to −0.14 m, RMS errors (RMSEs) of about 0.40 m, scatter indexes (SIs) around 25%, and a correlation of 0.95 compared with the measurements. The wave period results contained the greatest errors with peak period biases of −0.26 to 0.06 s, RMSEs from 2.4 to 2.7 s, SIs near 25%, and a correlation between 0.47 and 0.59. The mean period biases were about −0.70s, RMSEs were about 1.5 s, and there was a correlation of 0.6–0.7. The mean wave direction biases ranged from 4.5 to −0.34° with RMSEs of 55°.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge and thank the other members of the NACCS numerical modeling production team and all members of the USACE Engineer Research and Development Center’s Coastal & Hydraulics Laboratory.
References
Alomar, M., Bolaños- Sánchez, R., Sanchez-Arcilla, A., and Sairouni, A. (2010). “Wave growth under variable wind conditions.” Proc., ASCE 32nd Int. Conf. on Civil Engineering in Ocean, ASCE, Reston, VA, 40.
Alves, J.-H. G.M., Stripling, S., Chawla, A., Tolman, H., and van der Westhuysen, A. (2015). “Operational wave guidance at the U.S. national weather service during tropical/post-tropical storm sandy, October 2012.” Mon. Weather Rev., 143, 1687–1702.
Becker, J. J., et al. (2009). “Global bathymetry and elevation data at 30 arc seconds resolution: SRTM30_PLUS.” Marine Geod., 32(4), 355–371.
Bender, C., Smith, J. M., Kennedy, A., and Jensen, R. (2013). “STWAVE simulation of Hurricane Ike: Model results and comparison to data.” Coastal Eng., 73, 58–70.
Bender, L. C., Guinasso, N. L., and Walpert, J. N. (2010). “A comparison of methods for determining significant wave heights-Applied to a 3-m discus buoy during Hurricane Katrina.” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 27, 1012–1028.
Bertotti, L., Cavaleri, L., Soret, A., and Tolosana-Delgado, R. (2014). “Performance of global and regional nested meteorological models.” Cont. Shelf Res., 87, 17–27.
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, 345–377.
Cardone, V. J. (1969). “Specification of the wind distribution in the marine boundary layer for wave forecasting.” Rep. TR-69-01, Geophysical Sciences Laboratory, New York Univ., New York, 137.
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, Vicksburg, MS.
Cardone, V. J., Jensen, R. E., Resio, D. T., Swail, V. R., and Cox, A. T. (1996). “Evaluation of contemporary ocean wave models in rare extreme events: The “Halloween storm” of October 1991 and the “storm of the century” of March 1993.” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 13(1), 198–230.
Cialone, M. A., et al. (2015). “North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS) coastal storm model simulations: Waves and water levels.” Rep. ERDC/CHL TR-15-14, Engineering Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Cox, A. T., Cardone, V. J., and Swail, V. R. (1998). “Evaluation NCEP/NCAR reanalysis project marine surface wind products for a long term North Atlantic wave hindcast.” 5th Int. Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada, Toronto.
Cox, A. T., Greenwood, J. A., Cardone, V. J., and Swail, V. R. (1995). “An interactive objective kinematic analysis system.” 4th Int. Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada, Toronto.
Cox, A. T., and Swail, V. R. (2001). “A global wave hindcast over the period 1958-1997: Validation and climate assessment.” J. Geophys. Res., 106(C2), 2313–2329.
Dietrich, J. C., et al. (2010). “A high-resolution coupled riverine flow, tide, wind, wind wave and storm surge model for Southern Louisiana and Mississippi: Part II–Synoptic description and analysis of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.” Mon. Weather Rev., 138, 378–404.
Dietrich, J. C., et al. (2011). “Hurricane Gustav (2008) waves and storm surge: Hindcast and synoptic analysis, and validation in Southern Louisiana.” Mon. Weather Rev., 139(8), 2488–2522.
Engelstad, A., et al. (2013). “Wave evolution across the Louisiana shelf.” Cont. Shelf Res., 52, 190–202.
Galarneau, T. J., Jr., Davis, D. A., and Shapiro, M. A. (2013). “Intensification of hurricane sandy (2012) through extratropical warm core seclusion.” Mon. Weather Rev., 141, 4296–4321.
Geernaert, G. L., and Katsaros, K. B. (1986). “Incorporation of stratification effects on the oceanic roughness length in the derivation of the neutral drag coefficient.” J. Phys. Oceanogr., 16, 1580–1584.
Hasselmann, K., et al. (1973). “Measurements of wind-wave growth and swell decay during the Joint North Sea Wave Project (JONSWAP).” Dtsch. Hydrogr. Z. Suppl. A, 8(12), 95.
Hesser, T. J., Cialone, M. A., and Anderson, M. E. (2013). “Lake St. Clair: Wave and water level modeling.” Rep. ERDC/CHL TR-13-5, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Hope, M. E., et al. (2013). Hindcast and validation of Hurricane Ike (2008) waves, forerunner, and storm surge.” J. Geophys. Res., 118(9), 4424–4460.
Howard, K., et al. (2009). “The impact of atmospheric model resolution on a coupled wind/wave forecast system.” 16th Conf. on Air–Sea Interaction, American Meteorological Society, Boston.
Jensen, R. E., Cialone, M. A., Chapman, R. S., Ebersole, B. A., Anderson, M., and Thomas, L. (2012). “Lake Michigan storm: Wave and water level modeling.” Rep. ERDC/CHL TR-12-26, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Kalnay, E., et al. (1996). “The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project.” Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc., 77, 437–471.
Kistler, R., et al. (2001). “The NCEP-NCAR 50-Year Reanalysis: Monthly Means CD-ROM and Documentation.” Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc., 82, 247–268.
Komen, G. J. Cavaleri, L., Donelan, M., Hasselmann, K., Hasselmann, S., and Janssen, P. A. E. M. (1994). Dynamics and modeling of ocean waves, Cambridge University Press, New York, 532.
Luettich, R. A, Westerink, J. J., and Scheffner, N. W. (1992). “ADCIRC: An advanced three-dimensional circulation model for shelves, coasts and estuaries.” Technical Rep. DPR-92-6, U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS.
Massey, T. C., Anderson, M. E., Smith, J. M., Gomez, J., and Jones, R. (2011a). STWAVE: Steady-state spectral wave model user’s manual for STWAVE, version 6.0, USACE ERDC, ERDC/CHL SR-11-1, Vicksburg, MS.
Massey, T. C., Wamsley, T. V., and Cialone, M. A. (2011b). “Coastal storm modeling–system integration.” Proc., 2011 Solutions to Coastal Disasters Conf., ASCE, Reston, VA, 99–108.
Nadal-Caraballo, N. C., and Melby, J. A. (2014). “North Atlantic Coast comprehensive study—Phase I: Statistical analysis of historical extreme water levels with sea level change.” ERDC/CHL TR-14-7. U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Seymour, R. J., Olfe, C. B., and Thomas, J. O. (2012). “CDIP wave observations in Superstorm Sandy.” Shore Beach, 80(4).
Swail, V. R., Ceccacci, E. A., and Cox, A. T. (2000a). “The AES40 North Atlantic wave reanalysis: Validation and climate assessment.” 6th Int. Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada, Toronto.
Swail, V. R., and Cox, A. T. (2000b). “On the use of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis surface marine wind fields for a long term North Atlantic wave hindcast.” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 17(4), 532–545.
Taylor, K. E. (2001). “Summarizing multiple aspects of model performance in a single diagram.” J. Geophys. Res., 106(D7), 7183–7192.
The SWAN Team (2014). SWAN scientific and technical documentation SWAN Cycle III version 41.01, Delft Univ. of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.
Thompson, E., and Cardone, V. (1996). “Practical modeling of hurricane surface wind fields.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal Ocean Eng., 195–205.
Tolman, H. L. (2014). User manual and system documentation of WAVEWATCH III version 4.18, NOAA/NWS/NCEP/MMAB Technical Note, 316, 194.
Torn, R. D. (2015). “Diagnosis of the source of GFS medium-range track errors in Hurricane Sandy (2012).” Mon. Weather Rev., 143, 132–152.
USACE. (2006). “Louisiana coastal protection and restoration.” Preliminary Technical Rep. to United States Congress, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, LA. 〈http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental/LaCPR.aspx〉.
USACE. (2009). “Performance evaluation of the New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Protection System Final Report of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force Volume 1---Executive Summary and Overview”, 〈http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/katrina/ipet/Volume%20I%20FINAL%2023Jun09%20mh.pdf〉.
USACE. (2015). “North Atlantic Coast comprehensive study: Resilient adaptation to increasing risk main report.” Final Rep. January 2015, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Brooklyn, NY. 〈http://www.nad.usace.army.mil/CompStudy〉.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 2 • March 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 3, 2015
Accepted: Feb 22, 2016
Published online: Mar 29, 2016
Discussion open until: Aug 29, 2016
Published in print: Mar 1, 2017
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.