Advanced Surge and Inundation Modeling: A Case Study from Hurricane Katrina
Abstract
The storm surge and inundation from Hurricane Katrina that devastated Gulf Coast communities on August 29, 2005, presented an opportunity to evaluate and advance coastal ocean modeling capabilities at NRL and within the Navy. A highly realistic simulation of Katrina's storm surge and inland inundation was developed using the ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) model. The finite-element basis of ADCIRC is advantageous in its utilization of unstructured triangular grids. The "Katrina" grid contains 375,479 computational points and 730,431 triangular elements with 225 m spatial resolution in coastal and inland areas, resulting in the largest Navy application of unstructured grid models to date. Comparison between the model-computed high water values at measured high water mark locations along the Gulf coast indicate very good agreement between observed and predicted water levels with average errors of just over one foot. NRL recently transitioned the ADCIRC model to fleet operations for coastal predictions and remains an active ADCIRC development partner.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA518508
Entities
People
- C. A. Blain
- James D. Dykes
- P. G. Posey
- T. C. Massey
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory