Oceanography Seminar: Forecasting Wave-Driven Coastal Hazards

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“Forecasting Wave-Driven Coastal Hazards: Do We Need Phase-Resolving Models?”

It is well understood that landfall of pelagic storms can result in massive nearshore waves that flood low-lying coastal areas, endangering life and property. On a more frequent scale, large open ocean swell waves impinging on coastlines also result in coastal flooding, hazardous currents, infrastructure damage, and erosion. High water levels, such as during spring tides, become much more than "nuisance flooding" when they occur coincidentally with energetic swells. With the anticipated rise in global sea level, these problems will intensify and pose serious problems to coastal communities.

To mitigate immediate hazards, quantitative forewarning is necessary. Most wave forecasting tools are based on numerical solutions of the spectral wave action balance equation, which provides an estimate of the evolution of the wave spectrum but does not describe the propagation of individual waves and their runup on land. Due to their phase-resolving nature, depth-integrated wave models - such as of Boussinesq-type - bare the potential to offer a more accurate and complete description of coastal wave processes.

We will discuss applications and limitations of phase-resolving models for wave-driven coastal hazards and outline their usefulness for operational forecasting.

For the list of Fall 2018 Oceanography seminars and speakers, please visit: Oceanography Seminars

Event Sponsor
Oceanography, Mānoa Campus

More Information
(808) 956-7633, uhmocean@hawaii.edu, http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/oceanography/seminar.html

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