Identification

Title

Using a WRF-ADCIRC ensemble and track clustering to investigate storm surge hazards and inundation scenarios associated with Hurricane Irma

Abstract

This article investigates combining a WRF-ADCIRC ensemble with track clustering to evaluate how uncertainties in tropical cyclone-induced storm tide (surge + tide) predictions vary in space and time and to explore whether this method can help elucidate inundation hazard scenarios. The method is demonstrated for simulations of Hurricane Irma (2017) initialized at 1200 UTC 5 September, approximately 5 days before Irmas Florida landfalls, and 1200 UTC 8 September. Mixture models are used to partition the WRF ensemble tracks from 5 and 8 September into six and five clusters, respectively. Inundation is evaluated in two affected regions: southwest (south and west Florida) and northeast (northeast Florida through South Carolina). For the 5 September simulations, inundation in the southwest region varies significantly across the ensemble, indicating low forecast confidence. However, clustering highlights the areas of inundation risk in south and west Florida associated with different storm tracks. In the northeast region, every cluster has high inundation probabilities along a similar coastal stretch, indicating high confidence at a similar to 5-day lead time that this area will experience inundation. For the 8 September simulations, track and inundation in both regions vary less across the ensemble, but clustering remains useful for distinguishing among flooding scenarios. These results demonstrate the potential of dynamical TC-surge ensembles to illuminate important aspects of storm surge risk, including highlighting regions of high forecast confidence where preparations can reliably be initiated early. The analysis also shows how clustering can augment probabilistic hazard forecasts by elucidating inundation scenarios and variability across a surge ensemble.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7668hh1

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2020-08-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact