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Effects of hurricane forward speed and approach angle on storm surges: an idealized numerical experiment

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Abstract

The effects of hurricane forward speed (V) and approach angle (θ) on storm surge are important and a systematic investigation covering possible and continuous ranges of these parameters has not been done before. Here we present such a study with a numerical experiment using the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM). The hurricane track is simplified as a straight line, such that V and θ fully define the motion of the hurricane. The maximum surge is contributed by both free waves and a forced storm surge wave moving with the hurricane. Among the free waves, Kelvin-type waves can only propagate in the down-coast direction. Simulations show that those waves can only have a significant positive storm surge when the hurricane velocity has a down-coast component. The optimal values of V and θ that maximize the storm surge in an idealized semi-circular ocean basin are functions of the bathymetry. For a constant bathymetry, the maximum surge occurs when the hurricane approaches the coast from the normal direction when the free wave generation is minimal; for a stepped bathymetry, the maximum surge occurs at a certain acute approach angle which maximizes the duration of persistent wind forcing; a step-like bathymetry with a sloped shelf is similar to the stepped bathymetry, with the added possibility of landfall resonance when the free and forced waves are moving at about the same velocity. For other cases, the storm surge is smaller, given other parameters (hurricane size, maximum wind speed, etc.) unchanged.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Changsheng Chen and his lab personnel at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth for numerous help in using FVCOM. We appreciate the support of the Louisiana Optical Network Infrastructure (LONI) Management Council and LONI Network Operation Center staff at LSU for allowing us the access and use of the LONI super computers for the numerical simulation for this and related work.

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  1. Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Chenguang Zhang & Chunyan Li

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  1. Chenguang Zhang
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Correspondence to Chunyan Li.

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Foundation item: The National Key R & D Project under contract No. 2017YFC1404201.

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Zhang, C., Li, C. Effects of hurricane forward speed and approach angle on storm surges: an idealized numerical experiment. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 38, 48–56 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-018-1081-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-018-1081-z

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