Development of a Flexible Coupling Framework for Coastal Inundation Studies

TL;DR

This paper presents a flexible, high-performance coupling framework for coastal inundation modeling that integrates atmospheric, wave, and storm surge models within the NOAA NEMS, validated on Hurricane Ike data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel coupling framework based on ESMF/NUOPC technology for coastal inundation studies, enabling seamless, efficient model integration and parallel execution.

Findings

Nonlinear wave-water interactions significantly affect inundation extent.

Maximum surge and wave setup vary with storm track and land geography.

Framework successfully validated on Hurricane Ike case.

Abstract

To enable flexible model coupling in coastal inundation studies, a coupling framework based on ESMF/NUOPC technology under a common modeling framework called the NOAA Environmental Modeling System (NEMS) was developed. The framework is essentially a software wrapper around atmospheric, wave and storm surge models that enables its components communicate seamlessly, and efficiently run in massively parallel environments. We implemented the coupled application including ADCIRC and unstructured WWAVEWATCHIII caps as well as NUOPC compliant caps to read Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting Model (HWRF) generated forcing fields. We validated the coupled application for a laboratory test and a full scale inundation case of the Hurricane Ike, 2008, on a high resolution mesh covering the whole US Atlantic coast. We showed that how nonlinear interaction between surface waves and total water level results in significant enhancements and progression of the inundation and wave action into land in and around the hurricane landfall region. We also presented that how the maximum wave setup and maximum surge regions may happen at the various time and locations depending on the storm track and geographical properties of the landfall area.