Regional Circulation Model for Coast of Long Island, New York

During the past 5 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Coastal Inlets Research Program has been taking a systematic regional modeling approach to calculating combined scales of nearshore circulation and providing established models, called "Community Models," for new projects that can involve modeling by different organizations. Here, we describe a regional circulation model for the coast of Long Island, NY. Domain coverage includes the New York Bight and Long Island Sound. The two-dimensional finite-element circulation model ADCIRC was applied because of its stability and flexibility in element sizes. Placement of tidal boundaries far from the area of interest allows free propagation of the tides throughout the domain, preserving the natural amplitude and phase variation. Since development of the original Long Island regional model, it has been applied to numerous studies around the north and south shores of Long Island. The community model benefited from bathymetry updates and increases in resolution for each project. Specific study applications are: flood shoal mining at Shinnecock Inlet; erosion control at Jones Inlet; storm surge calculations from Fire Island to Montauk Point; proposed relocation of Fire Island Inlet; and stability of two small inlets on the north shore of Long Island. Because each project could obtain, adapt, and apply the existing regional model and rigorous forcing conditions, considerable time and effort were saved.