Naeko Takahashi Qing Wang Scott C. Hagen, Ph.D., P.E. Astronomic Tides, Flows and Hurricane Storm Surge Modeling of the Pascagoula River, MS March 4, 2009

Develop a high-resolution inlet-based floodplain mesh for the Pascagoula River region. Incorporate the inlet-based floodplain model into the Western North Atlantic Tidal (WNAT) model domain, which consists of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the western Atlantic Ocean. Examine the storm tide dynamics that are setup within the Pascagoula River and understand the importance of the various meteorological forcings and their attribution to the overall physics and the ability to describe with our model. –Astronomic tides, considering the role of marsh areas –Storm surge hydrographs –Storm tide hydrographs –Large-scale, local-scale models Objectives

3 Black Creek Red Creek Pascagoula River W. Pascagoula River E. Pascagoula River Big Creek Escatawpa River

m m Inlet m Pascagoula River West Pascagoula River

Outside Spacing 25 m Inside Spacing 100 m 50 m Beardslee Lake & Roberson lake Pascagoula River Beardslee Lake Escatawpa River Roberson Lake

13 m 40 m 25 m Pascagoula River and Red Creek Joint Point Pascagoula River Red Creek

Big Creek Escatawpa River Min element size: 1.4 m 10 m Big Creek

Caribbean Sea Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Mexico

Mesh Over River Islands and Barrier Islands

Inlet-based Floodplain Mesh Development

ADCIRC INPUT 1: WNAT-based mesh Output locations OUTPUT: Twenty-three (23) tidal constituents at each output locations (open-ocean boundary for localized domain) Localized domain (i.e. Inlet-based mesh) 1 N Model Forcing: Astronomic Tide Seven tidal constituents (K1, O1, M2, S2, N2, K2, and Q1) are applied at the open-ocean boundary (blue dash line at 60W meridian)

Astronomic Tide Model Results

Storm Surge Hydrograph Boundary Condition ADCIRC INPUT 1: WNAT-based mesh Output locations INPUT 2: Wind and pressure data N OUTPUT: Storm Surge Hydrograph Localized domain (i.e. Inlet-based mesh) 1 N

Ocean-based Model and Storm Surge Hydrograph Extraction Maximum Envelope of Water (maximum storm surge) WNAT

Ocean-based Model and Storm Surge Hydrograph Extraction

Inlet-based Storm Surge Model Results

Conclusions Incorporating the marsh areas results in significant improvement in the astronomic tide simulation. The large-scale model without floodplains produces an acceptable storm surge hydrograph B.C. to be used to drive a localized domain. The large-scale modeling approach is the most adequate towards simulating storm surge dynamics; however, when a localized domain is the only choice, it is necessary to account for the local wind and pressure forcing AND the remote effects of the wind and pressure forcing through a storm surge hydrograph. Barrier islands should be meshed over to allow wetting and drying.

Acknowledgement

Thank You!