IOOS/SURA Extratropical Storm Inundation Testbed: Preliminary Results for Scituate, Massachusetts

Changsheng Chen, Qichun Xu, Jianhua Qi and Huichan LinUniversity of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, New Bedford, MA 02744

Robert C Beardsley Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543

Rick Luettich University of North Carolina, Morehead City, NC 28557

Joannes Westerink and Aaron Donahue University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556

Harry Wang and Yanqiu Meng Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA 23062-1346

Will Perrie and Bash Toulany Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS B2Y 4A2

Donald Slinn University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611

U.S. IOOS Coastal Ocean Modeling Testbed

24 January 201110th Symposium on the Coastal Environment

92nd Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting

Overall Goal Investigate roles of model structure and physics, waves, wave-surge interaction, wave current interaction, grid resolution, and computational effort on hindcasting inundation on a local scale driven by an extratropical storm in the Gulf of Maine.

Objectives

• Hindcast inundation at Scituate (MA) during two recent (2005 and 2007) Nor’easters using suite of models with the same grid and forcing;

• Compare model output with available field data; • Inter-compare model output;• Formulate initial comparison results and plans for additional model tests.

Three Unstructured Grid Models

• ADCIRC - ADvanced CIRCulation model (SWAN)• FVCOM – Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model (SWAVE)• SELFE – Semi-implicit Eulerian-Lagrangian Finite Element model (WWM)

Scituate, MA The Test Site:

44013

44029

Tide gauge station

A 3-D View of the bathymetry of the Scituate

Initial Test Storm Cases

1) May 24 2005 storm; 2) April 17, 2007 (“Patriot’s Day”) storm.

Boston tide gauge and NOAA 440013

Buoys with wave measurements

The Model-Data comparison (for surface waves)

Model-Model Comparisons

Transects

Points-Jericho Road (A, B)-Harbor Master/Town Pier (C)-E. Foster Bridge (D)-Edward Forster Road (E)-Tide gauge (F)-Center of harbor mouth (G)-Cedar Point depression (H)

44 Rebecca Road

A1

A2

HI

A

B

C

F

D

E

G

B1

B2

C1 C2

-Tide gauge

-Cedar Point depression

Harbor Master/Town Pier-

- E. F

oste

r Brid

ge

-Center of harbor mouth

• Tides and surface Waves• The model runs without

inclusion of current-wave interaction

• The model runs with inclusion of current-wave interaction

-Jericho Road

-Edward Forster Rd

2005 2007 Buoy 44013 Buoy 44013

Buoy 44029 Buoy 44029

Surface Wave Simulation in the region domain

Tidal Comparisons at Tidal Gauge Station F

2005 extra-tropic storm simulation without inclusion of waves (05:00 GMT, May 25, 2005)

ADCIRC FVCOM SELFE

Sea level(m)

2005 extra-tropic storm simulation with wave-current interactions (05:00 GMT, May 25, 2005)

ADCIRC FVCOM SELFE

Sea level(m)

Without current-wave interactionsWith current-wave interactions

Without current-wave interactionsWith current-wave interactions

2007 extra-tropic storm simulation without inclusion of waves (04:00 GMT, April 18, 2007)

ADCIRC FVCOM SELFE

Sea level(m)

2007 extra-tropic storm simulation with current-wave interactions (04:00 GMT, April 18, 2007)

ADCIRC FVCOM SELFE

Sea level(m)

Without current-wave interactionsWith current-wave interactions

Summary

• For the same forcing conditions, all three unstructured-grid models are capable of reproducing the tides in Scituate, MA.

• All three models produced with similar accuracy the sea surface elevation and the same patterns of currents over the shelf outside Scituate.

• The model results exhibit distinct differences in the current spatial distribution and coastal inundation pattern inside Scituate, particularly in the case with current-wave interactions.

• The differences in the three model results are probably related to bottom friction parameterization, wave simulations, and algorithms used for current-wave interaction.