No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Numerical Modelling of Storm-Driven Sediment Transport in Currituck Sound, NC
... A significant amount of research has been conducted on coastal flooding in these environments, and different numerical models have been applied to study these systems, with a selection of recent investigations summarized in Table 1. Research has primarily focused on the effects of wind-driven storm surge, and questions remain about the impacts from precipitation and waves on flooding and circulation (Defne et al., 2019;Mulligan et al., 2015b;Rey et al., 2019). Notably, an investigation by Peng et al. (2004) used the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) and the Holland wind model (Holland, 1980) to investigate the effects of synthetic tropical storms on the Albemarle-Pamlico estuarine system (APES) in North Carolina (NC), USA. ...
During extreme storms, both wind‐driven changes in water levels and intense precipitation can contribute to flooding. Particularly on low‐lying coastal plains, storm‐driven flooding can cover large areas, resulting in major damage. To investigate the roles of rainfall and storm surge on coastal flooding, a coupled flow‐wave model (Delft3D‐SWAN) that includes precipitation is used to simulate two major storm events. The modeling system is applied over a domain covering coastal North Carolina, USA, including the large Albemarle‐Pamlico estuarine system, and a long and narrow back‐barrier estuary (Currituck Sound [CS]) that experiences major water level variations is investigated in detail. A high‐resolution (50 m) grid with eight vertical layers is used to simulate the conditions during Tropical Storm Hermine and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Hindcasts (winds, pressure, and precipitation) from eight different atmospheric models are used as atmospheric input conditions, and the results are compared with detailed observations of surface waves, currents, and water levels from sensors mounted on five monitoring platforms in CS. Results show that major differences exist between wind fields producing variations coastal conditions. Precipitation directly on the water surface had a large effect on water levels and produced a larger inundated area. These results help to understand the important contributions of each physical process (precipitation, wind‐driven surge, and waves) to circulation and water levels, and provide guidance on the impact of atmospheric forcing conditions on back‐barrier environments during hurricanes.
Tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, have high winds that can generate strong ocean surface circulation and large surface waves and numerous hurricanes that form and propagate over the Atlantic Ocean interact with the continental shelf. Hurricane Frey et al. (2012) impacted the east coast of North America after moving across the narrow shelf and made landfall in Onslow Bay, North Carolina, USA. In contrast, Hurricane Isaias (2020) moved generally parallel to the continental shelf, making landfall in Onslow Bay along a very different track compared to Hurricane Florence. These hurricanes provide an opportunity to understand the waves generated by large storms that move across the open ocean to the coastal environment on the shelf. In this study, the coupled Delft3D-SWAN modelling system is applied to numerically simulate the wind and wave conditions during both Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Isaias. The simulations are analyzed to understand the source terms that control the generated and dissipation of the surface wave field. The model results for Hurricane Florence, indicated that the deep water terms (wind input, whitecapping and quadruplet wave interactions) governed wave action balance on the shelf and in Onslow Bay (10–100 m depths), with negligible contributions from the shallow water dissipation terms such as bottom friction. Hurricane Isaias followed the same trend, but with lower values corresponding to lower wind speeds and smaller wave heights. In addition, Hurricane Florence crossed the shelf and approached the bay from the open ocean with larger waves that were not limited by fetch. In contrast, since Hurricane Isaias followed the coast along the shelf, the wave conditions were fetch-limited on the west side of the track near the coast and not limited by fetch on the east side on the open shelf. The results of this study underscore how hurricanes with different tracks with respect to the orientation of the shelf and coast generate different wave fields and impact coastal environments in different ways.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.