Numerical Modeling of Hurricane-Induced Extreme Wave Heights in Pensacola Bay

Based on Hurricane Ivan condition, numerical modeling of extreme waves under hurricane wind condition was investigated in this study in Pensacola Bay. Results from two popular wave models, STWAVE 4.0 and SWAN 48.8 models, were compared in three numerical experiments. Under regular incidental wave forcing, predictions of progressive wave heights from SWAN and STWAVE model are very close. However, under strong wind forcing condition of 120 mph wind speed, the spatial distributions of waves predicted by SWAN and STWAVE show substantial differences, even though the overall maximum wave height is close. Outside the bay, wind-induced wave heights predicted by SWAN are generally higher than those predicted by STWAVE. Inside the bay, along the direction from the southern shoreline to the northern shoreline, wave predicted by SWAN is generally higher than those predicted by STWAVE near the southern shoreline. It then becomes smaller than those estimated by STWAVE as wind driving waves to the north.