The Wind Downscaling Modeling Framework for NOAA’s Coastal-Act Project

The Consumer Option for an Alternative System to Allocate Losses (COASTAL) Act project requires a wind analysis and to estimate the strength and timing of damaging winds at a given, “parcel-scale” over-land location in the area impacted by a tropical cyclone and to drive surge and wave models for estimating the water damages. For this study “parcel scale” is assumed to be resolved by using model grid spacing of 10-30m. The parcel-scale at which surface winds are resolved lies between 10-30 meters spatial model resolution. We have developed a modeling framework which that uses WRF-ARW core to conduct high-resolution simulations in the LES mode, this modeling framework uses HWRF forcing as initial and lateral boundary conditions, surface URMA/RTMA wind analysis, ADCIRC hourly water inundation data, and fine-resolution Urban model. In addition, we have implemented very fine 30-meter- resolution land-use data along with 10-meter resolution terrain data are used to capture fine details of coastal features and water inundation characteristics.

The purpose of the project is to understand wind versus water damages near tropical cyclone landfall locations where damages and inundation impacts are significant. The most challenging part of requirement for this work is that the model results must achieve 90% accuracy in their outcome. The wind downscaling is designed to produces 15-minutes interval surface wind speed, wind gust, wind direction time series at any given location where maximum damages done over residential structures. The case studies will be performed with Hurricane Irma (2017), Michael (2018), and Hurricane Sandy (2012), and testing 90% accuracy based on their outcome and that can be very useful for wide range of coastal applications.