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Storm Surge Dynamics Over Wide Continental Shelves Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2009 Storm surge dynamics over wide continental shelves: numerical experiments using the Finite- Volume Coastal Ocean Model Joao Lima Rego Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Recommended Citation Rego, Joao Lima, "Storm surge dynamics over wide continental shelves: numerical experiments using the Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model" (2009). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3882. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3882 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. STORM SURGE DYNAMICS OVER WIDE CONTINENTAL SHELVES: NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS USING THE FINITE-VOLUME COASTAL OCEAN MODEL A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences by João Lima Rego Licenciado , University of Lisbon, 2004 M.S., University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2006 August 2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I begin by thanking my adviser, Dr. Chunyan Li, whose teaching skills and hard work set an example that will be hard to forget. His patience and guidance were very much appreciated during my years at LSU. I am also grateful to the other committee members, Drs. Jaye Cable, James Catallo, Dimitris Nikitopoulos and Clinton Willson, for suggestions which improved this dissertation substantially. Dr. Masamichi Inoue, who initially also served on my committee, provided noteworthy contribution as well. I thank Dr. Changsheng Chen (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth) for kindly sharing the FVCOM code, Dr. Lianyuan Zheng (University of South Florida) for initial discussions about the code, and Mr. Imtiaz Hossain (LSU’s Shell Coastal Environmental Modeling Laboratory) for help with the cluster. A special appreciation is due to LSU’s Troy H. Middleton Library, whose abundant resources and kind and helpful librarians were a powerful tool in my research. I have to acknowledge some of the people I became friends with, while in Louisiana: Dr. Ikhlas Ajbar, Ms. Lisa Gardner, Ms. Amy Scaroni and Ms. Amy Spaziani; also Mr. João Abecasis, Dr. Claes Eskilsson, Mr. Zhixuan Feng, Mr. Gustavo Ferreira, Dr. Felix Jose, Mr. João Pereira and Dr. Gabriel Retana. They also provided frank and useful comments about my research. Lastly, the seemingly endless patience and support of my family back in Portugal must also be recognized. This work was made possible by the financial support from the Portuguese “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia”, Doctoral Fellowship 28815/2006, which is greatly appreciated. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... v CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1 1.1. Motivation ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Historical Overview of Storm Surge Forecasting .................................................................... 4 1.3. The Numerical Model, FVCOM .............................................................................................. 7 1.4. Surge Generation Mechanisms .............................................................................................. 13 1.5. Nonlinear Interaction of Tide and Surge ............................................................................... 16 1.6. Storm Surge in Coastal Bays ................................................................................................. 20 1.7. Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 22 1.8. Organization of Dissertation .................................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 2: THE EFFECT OF TIDES AND SHELF GEOMETRY ON STORM SURGE: NUMERICAL MODEL EXPERIMENTS FOR HURRICANE RITA........................................ 25 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 25 2.2. Hurricane Rita ........................................................................................................................ 25 2.3 Mesh for Hurricane Rita Simulations ..................................................................................... 26 2.4 Hurricane Wind Fields ............................................................................................................ 29 2.5 Model Calibration for Tide ..................................................................................................... 33 2.6 Model Validation for Storm Surge ......................................................................................... 35 2.7 Hurricane Rita’s Storm Surge and Inland Flooding ............................................................... 42 2.8 Idealized Simulations .............................................................................................................. 45 2.9 The Role of Shelf Geometry ................................................................................................... 48 2.10 Effects of Nonlinear Tide-Surge Interaction ......................................................................... 51 2.11 Nonlinear Residuals in the Momentum Equations ............................................................... 55 2.12 Conclusions of Chapter 2 ...................................................................................................... 60 CHAPTER 3: ON THE RECEDING OF STORM SURGE ALONG LOUISIANA’S LOW- LYING COAST ............................................................................................................................ 63 3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 63 3.2. Methods.................................................................................................................................. 64 3.3. Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 67 3.4. Conclusions of Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 4: ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FORWARD SPEED OF HURRICANES IN STORM SURGE FORECASTING: A NUMERICAL STUDY .................................................. 74 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 74 4.2. Methods.................................................................................................................................. 75 4.3. Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 78 4.4. Conclusions of Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................... 82 CHAPTER 5: STORM SURGE PROPAGATION IN GALVESTON BAY DURING HURRICANE IKE........................................................................................................................ 84 iii 5.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 84 5.2. Hurricane Ike ......................................................................................................................... 84 5.3. Model Implementation ........................................................................................................... 87 5.4. Hurricane Wind Field ............................................................................................................ 87 5.5. Model Calibration for Tide and Storm Surge ........................................................................ 91 5.6. Scenarios Tested .................................................................................................................... 98 5.7. Hurricane Ike’s Surge and Inundation in Galveston Bay ...................................................... 99 5.8. Quantifying the Effect of Barrier Systems........................................................................... 106 5.9. Conclusions of Chapter 5 ..................................................................................................... 110 CHAPTER 6: SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................. 114 6.1. Storm Surge Simulations on the Louisiana Shelf ................................................................ 114 6.2. The Role of Shelf Geometry ...............................................................................................
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