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Modeling morphodynamics of coastal response to extreme events: What shape are we in?

July 27, 2021

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.

Publication Year 2022
Title Modeling morphodynamics of coastal response to extreme events: What shape are we in?
DOI 10.1146/annurev-marine-032221-090215
Authors Christopher R. Sherwood, Ap van Dongeren, James Doyle, Christie Hegermiller, T. J. Hsu, Tarandeep S. Kalra, Maitane Olabarrieta, Allison Penko, Yashar Rafati, Dano Roelvink, Marlies van der Lugt, Jay Veeramony, John C. Warner
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Annual Review of Marine Science
Index ID 70222547
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center