Assimilation of Wave and Current Data for Prediction of Inlet and River Mouth Dynamics
Abstract
Coastal inlets and river mouths exhibit large magnitude currents and current gradients and together with nearshore waves create a dynamic environment with strong nonlinear interactions. These interactions and the resulting environmental conditions can be predicted using models such as the SWAN and Delft3D, but the fidelity of the predictions can be limited by the accuracy of the specification of boundary conditions, initial conditions, and forcing. This program developed variational algorithms to assimilate local data for waves, tides, and currents to improve these uncertain model inputs and thereby bring predictions into agreement with the data is desirable and data assimilation is a practical way to accomplish this. The overall goal of this research program was to develop methods for using local data to improve predictions from high-resolution nearshore wave and circulation models. The specific objectives were to develop three things: an approach for nesting Delft3D in arbitrary circulation models, a method for assimilating tide and velocity data in Delft3D for estimation of improved boundary and initial conditions, and a method for assimilating wave spectrum observations into the SWAN model executed in Delft3D.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA582630
Entities
People
- Arie Reath
- David Walker
- Matthew Masarik
- Thomas Almeida
Organizations
- SRI International