M.A. van der Lugt
Please Note
8 records found
1
SnapWave
Fast, implicit wave transformation from offshore to nearshore
Wave nonlinearity plays an important role in cross-shore beach morphodynamics and is often parameterized in engineering-type morphodynamic models through a nonlinear relationship with the Ursell number. It is not evident that the relationship established in previous studies also holds for sheltered sites with fetch-limited seas as they are more prone to effects of local winds and currents, the waves are generally steeper, and the beaches are typically reflective. This study investigates near-bed orbital velocity nonlinearity from wave records collected at two sheltered beaches in The Netherlands and contrasts them to earlier observations made along the exposed, wave-dominated North Sea coast. Our observations at sheltered beaches show that the Ursell number has comparable skill in predicting wave nonlinearity as it has on previously studied exposed coasts. However, the orbital velocities at sheltered coasts are more asymmetric for the same Ursell number than on exposed coasts. When exposed coast data were examined for moments with comparable high-steepness waves, a similar effect on asymmetry was observed. In addition, following and opposing winds were found to have a clear relationship with total nonlinearity, while they did not affect the phase between skewness and asymmetry at the sheltered beaches. Refitting the free parameters of an Ursell-based predictor improved the bias for the asymmetry parameterization. Whether this has implications for modeling of the magnitude of wave-nonlinearity-driven sediment transport using engineering type models is strongly dependent on the sediment transport formulation used, as these formulations depend on additional calibration coefficients too.
Modeling the Morphodynamics of Coastal Responses to Extreme Events
What Shape Are We In?
This review focuses on recent advances in process-based numerical models of the impact of extreme storms on sandy coasts. Driven by larger-scale models of meteorology and hydrodynamics, these models simulate morphodynamics across the Sallenger storm-impact scale, including swash,collision, overwash, and inundation. Models are becoming both wider (as more processes are added) and deeper (as detailed physics replaces earlier parameterizations). Algorithms for wave-induced flows and sediment transport under shoaling waves are among the recent developments. Community and open-source models have become the norm. Observations of initial conditions (topography, land cover, and sediment characteristics) have become more detailed, and improvements in tropical cyclone and wave models provide forcing (winds, waves, surge, and upland flow) that is better resolved and more accurate, yielding commensurate improvements in model skill. We foresee that future storm-impact models will increasingly resolve individual waves, apply data assimilation, and be used in ensemble modeling modes to predict uncertainties.
We used the morphodynamic model XBeach with hydrodynamic forcing extracted from a regional coupled D-Flow FM/SWAN model. The XBeach model was initialized with a spatially varying roughness map derived from a land cover classification map generated with supervised conditional-random-field classification. The model was supplemented with a dynamic roughness module recognizing that, under extreme conditions, vegetation can be washed away or buried by sediment.
For the Fire Island case, the modeled spatial extent of roughness reduction as a proxy for vegetation removal during the storm was accurate. For both the Fire Island and Matanzas cases, the model predicted erosion and deposition volumes and dune-crest lowering well. The occurrence of breach formation was also predicted by the model, but the exact location of these breaches did not match observations. Variations of 10% in boundary conditions (surge, wave direction, significant wave height, and bay water levels) produced regime shifts in modeled barrier island response. These results not only stress the critical role of boundary conditions in morphodynamic model skill, but also show the limitations of single deterministic model runs in forecasting impact. ...
We used the morphodynamic model XBeach with hydrodynamic forcing extracted from a regional coupled D-Flow FM/SWAN model. The XBeach model was initialized with a spatially varying roughness map derived from a land cover classification map generated with supervised conditional-random-field classification. The model was supplemented with a dynamic roughness module recognizing that, under extreme conditions, vegetation can be washed away or buried by sediment.
For the Fire Island case, the modeled spatial extent of roughness reduction as a proxy for vegetation removal during the storm was accurate. For both the Fire Island and Matanzas cases, the model predicted erosion and deposition volumes and dune-crest lowering well. The occurrence of breach formation was also predicted by the model, but the exact location of these breaches did not match observations. Variations of 10% in boundary conditions (surge, wave direction, significant wave height, and bay water levels) produced regime shifts in modeled barrier island response. These results not only stress the critical role of boundary conditions in morphodynamic model skill, but also show the limitations of single deterministic model runs in forecasting impact.