All Climate Events

Tuesday, August 2, 2022. 1:00 PM. Webinar: Development and Applications of an Ocean, Infragravity Wave, Morphological, and Structural Response Coupled Nearshore Prediction System. John Warner, US Geological Survey. Sponsored by NOAA Coastal Modeling Seminars. More information here. Register here.

Abstract: Prediction of extreme storms and their local effects on geomorphology, habitat, and infrastructure are crucial for effective management decisions and to provide early warning for evacuations and to minimize loss of life and property. The National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) Hurricanes Coastal Impacts (NHCI) project is providing a unique opportunity that combines significant cross-discipline efforts. Here we describe the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Waves Sediment Transport (COAWST) numerical modeling system where we have recently added a nearshore infragravity wave model (InWave), implemented a 5th order sediment bed elevation updating scheme, included an implicit vertical advection algorithm,
integrated a vegetation module, and linked to a statistical structure response algorithm. The model is applied to idealized and realistic applications with a focus on Hurricane Michael (2018)
and demonstrates the necessity of including small scale (order several meters) land features such as vegetation cover that modify breaching behavior. Impacts to coastal structures near Mexico Beach, FL are characterized based on predicted damage assessments. Accurate predictions of impacts to these realistic systems requires high resolution nearshore and coastal information of land cover, structure types, bathymetry, topography, and oceanographic observations for comparison to model predictions. This study demonstrates the importance of coupling waves, currents, and coastal land use to predict nearshore morphological change and coastal structure impacts.