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A Coupled Circulation-Wave Model for Numerical Simulation of Storm Tides and Waves
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Reza Marsooli a, Philip M. Orton a, George Mellor b, Nickitas Georgas a, and Alan F. Blumberg a
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Davidson Laboratory, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
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Abstract
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The Stevens Institute of Technology Estuarine and Coastal Ocean Model (sECOM) is coupled
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with the Mellor, Donelan, and Oey (MDO) wave model (Mellor et al. 2008) to simulate coastal
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flooding due to storm tides and waves. sECOM is the three-dimensional (3-D) circulation model
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used in the New York Harbor Observing and Prediction System (NYHOPS). The MDO wave
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model is a computationally cost-effective spectral wave model suitable for coupling with 3-D
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circulation models. The coupled sECOM-MDO model takes into account wave-current
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interactions through wave-enhanced water surface roughness and wind shear stress, wave-current
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bottom shear stress, and depth-dependent wave radiation stress. We compare the model results
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with existing laboratory measurements as well as the field data collected in New York/New
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Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor during Hurricane Sandy. Comparisons between the model results and
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laboratory measurements demonstrate the capabilities of the model to accurately simulate wave
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characteristics, wave-induced water elevation, and undertow current. The model results for
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Hurricane Sandy reveal the successful performance of the coupled sECOM-MDO model in
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situations where high waves and storm tides coexist. The results indicate that the temporal
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maximum wave setup in NY/NJ Harbor was 0.26 m. On the other hand, the contribution of wave
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setup to the peak total water level was 0.13 m which is small compared to the peak storm surge.
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It is found that the inclusion of wave radiation stress and wave-enhanced bottom friction in the
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circulation model can reduce the errors in the calculated storm tides. At The Battery (NY), for
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example, the Root-Mean-Squared-Error (RMSE) reduced from 0.17 m to 0.12 m.
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Keywords: circulation-wave model; wave setup; undertow currents; Hurricane Sandy; New
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York/New Jersey Harbor.
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