Sensitivity of Modeled Wave Field to Temporal and Spatial Resolution of Meteorological Forcing

As part of a NOAA CSTAR funded project, the Florida Institute of Technology is working with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Environmental Modeling Center and National Weather Service (NWS) offices in Melbourne and Miami Florida to extend the Nearshore Wave Prediction System (NWPS) into the coastal estuary. In the work presented here, the focus on the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), which is on the order of 200 km long and 8 km across at its widest (in general 2-4 km across). Given its elongated and narrow configuration, the IRL is a fetch limited system and thus small errors in the wind magnitude, direction and/or duration can have a significant impact on forecast set-up and wave heights. For this study we look at the impact of the temporal and spatial resolution of the meteorological forcing on the predicted wave field. The waves will be modeled using the unstructured version of the Simulating Waves Nearshore model (SWAN) and ADvanced CIRCulation model (ADCIRC). Model results will be validated against elevation station data. The sensitivity of the wave heights, directions and periods to the frequency and spatial resolution of the wind forcing are examined as well as the errors based on the highest scales of resolution.