A Coastal Ocean Model of Semi-Implicit Finite Volume Unstructured Grid

A two-dimensional coastal ocean model based on unstructured C-grid is built, in which the momentum equation is discretized on the faces of each cell, and the continuity equation is discretized on the cell. The model is discretized by semi-implicit finite volume method, in that the free surface is semi-implicit and the bottom friction is implicit, thereby removing stability limitations associated with the surface gravity wave and friction. The remaining terms in the momentum equations are discretized explicitly by integral finite volume method and second-order Adams-Bashforth method. Tidal flow in the polar quadrant with known analytic solution is employed to test the proposed model. Finally, the performance of the present model to simulate tidal flow in a geometrically complex domain is examined by simulation of tidal currents in the Pearl River Estuary.

Mapping sea surface velocities in the Changjiang coastal zone with advanced synthetic aperture radar

Range Doppler velocities derived from the Envisat advanced synthetic aperture radar（ASAR） wide swath images are analyzed and assessed against the numerically simulated surface current fields derived from the finite volume coastal ocean model（FVCOM） for the Changjiang Estuary. Comparisons with the FVCOM simulations show that the European Space Agency（ESA） Envisat ASAR based Doppler shift anomaly retrievals have the capability to capture quantitative information of the surface currents in the Changjiang Estuary. The uncertainty analysis of the ASAR range Doppler velocity estimates are discussed with regard to the azimuthal and range bias corrections, radar incidence angles, inaccuracy in the wind field corrections and the presence of rain cells.The corrected range Doppler velocities for the Changjiang Estuary area are highly valuable as they exhibit quantitative expressions related to the multiscale upper layer dynamics and surface current variability around the East China Sea, including the Changjiang Estuary.

Parameter sensitivity study of the biogeochemical model in the China coastal seas

In order to develop a coupled basin scale model of ocean circulation and biogeochemical cycling,we present a biogeochemical model including 12 components to study the ecosystem in the China coastal seas（CCS）.The formulation of phytoplankton mortality and zooplankton growth are modified according to biological characteristics of CCS.The four sensitivity biological parameters,zooplankton assimilation efficiency rate（ZooAE_N）,zooplankton basal metabolism rate（ZooBM）,maximum specific growth rate of zooplankton（μ_（20）） and maximum chlorophyll to carbon ratio（Chl2C_m） are obtained in sensitivity experiments for the phytoplankton,and experiments about the parameter μ_（20＇）,half-saturation for phytoplankton NO_3 uptake（K_（NO_3）） and remineralization rate of small detritusN（SDeRRN） are conducted.The results demonstrate that the biogeochemical model is quite sensitive to the zooplankton grazing parameter when it ranges from 0.1 to 1.2 d^（-1）.The K_（NO_3） and SDeRRN also play an important role in determining the nitrogen cycle within certain ranges.The sensitive interval of KNO_3 is from 0.1 to 1.5（mmol/m^3）^（-1）,and interval of SEdRRN is from 0.01 and 0.1 d^（-1）.The observational data from September 1998 to July 2000 obtained at SEATS station are used to validate the performance of biological model after parameters optimization.The results show that the modified model has a good capacity to reveal the biological process features,and the sensitivity analysis can save computational resources greatly during the model simulation.

Shoreline Change Prediction Model for Coastal Zone Management in Thailand

The prediction of shoreline erosion is vital for coastal management. This study aims to utilize geo-informatics technology to increase accuracy of a shoreline prediction model along two study sites in Samutprakarn province and in Prachuabkirikhan province. Predicting coastline change using remote sensing together with GIS （geographic information system） is a spat^o-temporal technology, which can continuously provide perspectives of coastal areas. Due to a long term of operational period of LANDSAT satellite, it is useful to enhance accuracy of prediction model. LANDSAT-5 TM images acquired during 1999-2009 were used to produce historical shoreline vectors. Physical data were modified to be input data of digital shoreline analysis system. The model was validated. Linear regressions were applied in order to derive equations of erosion magnitude. The result presents that averaged erosion and accretion rate along Samutprakarn province was 22.30 meters/year and 2.94 meters/year, respectively. On the other hand, the average rate of coastal erosion along Prachuabkirikhan province was much lower, being 2.48 meters/year while the accretion rate was approximately 4.11 meters/year. The predicted shoreline change at Samutprakarn province in 2019 is about -132.69 ~ 0.758 meters while at Prachuabkirikhan is 40.58 ~ 0.0012 meters. In conclusion, this prediction model focused the changing of shoreline in long term and accuracy of the model could be improved by increasing number of shorelines vectors, transect intervals and resolution of satellite images. Clearly, the model is flexible and can be applied in other particular areas for coastal zone management in Thailand.

A composite fall-slippage model for cliff recession in the sedimentary coastal cliffs

A composite fall-slippage model is proposed in this study for the Tertiary sedimentary coastal cliffs of Varkala in the western coastal tract of Peninsular India which are retreating landwards due to the combination of several factors.The fall model in the present study accounts both spring seepage and wave action,resulting in undercutting and this fall affects only the topmost laterite and the just below sandstone in the cliff.Slippage in this area affects all the litho-units and hence the geologic characteristics of all the litho-units are considered for developing the slippage model.This mathematically derived model can be used in other cliffs exhibiting the same morphology as well as the one controlled by the same influencing factors.This model differs from other models in incorporating multi-lithounits as well as multi-notches.Varkala cliffs form a part of the aspiring geopark in the Global Geopark Network and hence a study on the cliff recession is a pressing requirement.

Development of a High-Resolution Coastal Circulation Model for the Ocean Observatory in Lunenburg Bay

An advanced ocean observatory has been established in Lunenburg Bay of Nova Scotia, Canada as part of an interdisciplinary research project of marine environmental prediction. The development of a high-resolution coastal circulation model is one of important components of the observatory. The model horizontal resolution is 60 m and the vertical resolution is about 1 m. The coastal circulation model is used to simulate the semi-diurnal tidal circulation and associated nonlinear dynamics with the M2 forcing specified at the model open boundaries. The model is also used to simulate the storm-induced circulation in the bay during Hurricane Juan in September 2003, with the model forcing to be the combination of tides and remotely generated waves specified at the model open boundaries and wind stress applied at the sea surface. The model results demonstrate strong interactions between the local wind stress, tidal forcing, and remotely generated waves during this period. Comparison of model results with the surface elevation and current observations demonstrates that the coastal circulation model has reasonable skills in simulating the tidal and storm-induced circulation in the bay.

Numerical study of current fields near the Changjiang Estuary and impact of Quick-EnKF assimilation

A 30-d current numerical simulation is running for the Yangshan Port,the Changjiang Estuary,the Hangzhou Bay and their adjacent seas using a finite volume coastal ocean model （FVCOM）,with Changjiang River runoff and wind effect being considered.At the open boundary,this model is driven by the water level obtained from prediction including eight main partial tides.After the harmonic analysis,the cotidal chart and the iso-amplitude line as well as the current ellipse distribution map are displayed to illustrate the propagation property of a tidal wave.Horizontal velocity of both the U and V components coincides with the actual measurement,which shows that the model result is credible to describe the hydrodynamic pattern in this sea area.On this basis,real-time current data from high-frequency radar is assimilated with the implementation of quick ensemble Kalman filter,which takes the variation tendency of the state vector to compute the analysis field,instead of integrating the field for N （the number of ensemble） times as it used to in the standard EnKF,aiming at raising the efficiency of computation,reducing the error of prediction and at the same time,improving the forecast effect.

Spatial Modeling Using High Resolution Image for Future Shoreline Prediction Along Junput Coast, West Bengal, India

National policies and legal decisions are very much dependent on the position of the shoreline. Shoreline change rates are frequently employed to summarize historical shoreline movements. This also helps to predict the future position of the shoreline based on the perceived historical trends. In this regard, the future shoreline positions at both the long-term, that is 2050, and short-term, that is 2015, time interval was predicted using the End Point Rate （EPR） model along the Junput Coast of West Bengal, India. The whole project work was divided into five parts. The first part showed the detection of shoreline from satellite data like IRS LISS IV and Landsat 7 ETM＋ and from the Survey of India Toposheet. The second part gave the glimpse of the dynamic segmentation of the shoreline to get the dynamically segmented nodal points along the shoreline. Shoreline prediction for the years 2015 and 2050 using End Point Rate （EPR） model was done in the third part. In the fourth part, Coastal Terrain Model （CTM） was prepared, and the digital shoreline estimated. The model result was validated and accuracy assessed with respect to the GPS data collected from the field at the fifth stage. Finally at the end of the present work, limitations of the project and the future scope of the work was sited.

Vertical accuracy assessment of freely available digital elevation models over low-lying coastal plains

The frequency of coastal flood damages is expected to increase significantly during the twenty-first century as sea level rises in the coastal floodplain.Coastal digital elevation model(DEM)data describing coastal topography are essential for assessing future flood-related damages and understanding the impacts of sea-level rise.The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission(SRTM)and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model(ASTER GDEM)are currently the most accurate and freely available DEM data.However,an accuracy assessment specifically targeted at DEMs over low elevation coastal plains is lacking.The present study focuses on these areas to assess the vertical accuracy of SRTM and ASTER GDEM using Ice,Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite,Geoscience Laser Altimeter System(ICESat/GLAS)and Real Time Kinematic(RTK)Global Positioning System(GPS)field survey data.The findings show that DEM accuracy is much better than the mission specifications over coastal plains.In addition,optical remote sensing image analysis further reveals the relationship between DEM vertical accuracy and land cover in these areas.This study provides a systematic approach to assess the accuracy of DEMs in coastal zones,and the results highlight the limitations and potential of these DEMs in coastal applications.

A GPU accelerated finite volume coastal ocean model

With the unstructured grid, the Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model（FVCOM） is converted from its original FORTRAN code to a Compute Unified Device Architecture（CUDA） C code, and optimized on the Graphic Processor Unit（GPU）. The proposed GPU-FVCOM is tested against analytical solutions for two standard cases in a rectangular basin, a tide induced flow and a wind induced circulation. It is then applied to the Ningbo＇s coastal water area to simulate the tidal motion and analyze the flow field and the vertical tide velocity structure. The simulation results agree with the measured data quite well. The accelerated performance of the proposed 3-D model reaches 30 times of that of a single thread program, and the GPU-FVCOM implemented on a Tesla k20 device is faster than on a workstation with 20 CPU cores, which shows that the GPU-FVCOM is efficient for solving large scale sea area and high resolution engineering problems.

Numerical simulations of morphological changes in barrier islands induced by storm surges and waves using a supercritical flow model

In this paper, an advanced explicit finite volume flow model in two-dimensions is presented for simulating supercritical coastal flows and morphological changes in a tidal/coastal inlet and barrier islands due to storm surges and waves. This flow mode/ is coupled with existing wave-action mode/and sediment transport mode/. The resulting integrated coastal process model is capable of simulating flows induced by extreme conditions such as waves, surge tides, river flood flows, etc., and morphological changes induced by rapid coastal currents and waves. This developed supercritical ftow model is based on the solution of the conservative form of the nonlinear shallow water equations with the effects of the Coriolis force, uneven bathymetry, wind stress, and wave radiation stresses. The forward Euler scheme is used for the unsteady term; and the convective term is discretized using the Godunov-type shock- capturing scheme along with the HLL Riemann solver on non-uniform rectilinear grids. The accuracy of the developed model is investigated by solving an experimental dam-break test case. Barrier island breaching, overflow and overwash due to severe storm attack are simulated and the predicted morphological changes associated to the events are analyzed to investigate the applicability of the model in a coast where all the physical forces are present.

Coupling hydrodynamic models with GIS for storm surge simulation： application to the Yangtze Estuary and the Hangzhou Bay, China

Storm surge is one of the most serious oceanic disasters. Accurate and timely numerical prediction is one of the primary measures for disaster control. Traditional storm surge models lack of accuracy and time effects. To overcome the disadvantages, in this paper, an analytical cyclone model was first added into the Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model （FVCOM） consisting of high resolution, flooding and drying capabilities for 3D storm surge modeling. Then, we integrated MarineTools Pro into a geographic information system （GIS） to supplement the storm surge model. This provided end users with a friendly modeling platform and easy access to geographically referenced data that was required for the model input and output. A temporal GIS tracking analysis module was developed to create a visual path from storm surge numerical results. It was able to track the movement of a storm in space and time. MarineTools Pro＇ capabilities could assist the comprehensive understanding of complex storm events in data visualization, spatial query, and analysis of simulative results in an objective and accurate manner. The tools developed in this study further supported the idea that the coupled system could enhance productivity by providing an efficient operating environ- ment for accurate inversion or storm surge prediction. Finally, this coupled system was used to reconstruct the storm surge generated by Typhoon Agnes （No. 8114） and simulated typhoon induced-wind field and water elevations of Yangtze Estuary and Hangzhou Bay. The simulated results show good correlation with actual surveyed data. The simple operating interface of the coupled system is very convenient for users, who want to learn the usage of the storm surge model, especially for first-time users, which can save their modeling time greatly.