Understanding Hurricane Storm Surge Generation and Propagation: The Case of Hurricane Rita
Abstract
Damage due to hurricane storm surges remains a serious concern for coastal zones. As the world’s coastal communities continue to experience the highest population growth with rapid urbanization, economic activities and tourism, storm surge and overland flooding will invariably continue to pose high coastal risk for human life and property damage. To minimize future risk for damage, it is imperative that accurate storm surge models be developed to reliably forecast actual events.One important aspect of improving the accuracy of storm surge modelling is understanding the effect of bottom friction, wind drag and meteorological forcing on storm surge generation and propagation. Moreover, hurricane storm surges are influenced by several factors, including wind intensity, central pressure and forward speed, size, angle of approach, shape of coastline, ocean bottom depth and slope, geographical features, etc. The relative influence of each factor may be amplified or abated by other factors acting at the time of the hurricane’s approach to the land.The goal of this study is to examine the impacts of Hurricane Rita in 2005 on the Unites States coast on the Gulf of Mexico, by conducting numerical experiments to evaluate the effect of bottom friction, wind drag and meteorological forcing using ADCIRC+SWAN and parameterizing meteorological inputs namely, intensity, pressure and forward speed in Oceanweather Inc, a parametric wind model. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) observation data along the Gulf coast are used for model validation.Results of this study can be useful in understanding the importance of bottom friction, wind drag and meteorological forcing. In addition, this dissertation labor to evaluate the effect of varying wind intensity, forward speed, and pressure for Hurricane Rita. The new parameterizations for bottom friction, wind drag, wind intensity, forward speed, and pressure developed by this dissertation can serve as a foundation for improving the accuracy of storm surge prediction.
Subject Area
Engineering|Atmospheric sciences
Recommended Citation
Abram Musinguzi,
"Understanding Hurricane Storm Surge Generation and Propagation: The Case of Hurricane Rita"
(2021).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI28414587.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI28414587