Numerical simulations and comparative analysis for two types of storm surges in the Bohai Sea using a coupled atmosphere-ocean model

• Published in: Acta oceanologica Sinica Vol. 38; no. 9; pp. 35 - 47
• Main Authors: Li, Yong, Chen, Xin, Jiang, Xingyu, Li, Jianfen, Tian, Lizhu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing The Chinese Society of Oceanography 01.09.2019; Springer Nature B.V; Key Laboratory of Coast Geo-environment, China Geological Survey, Tianjin 300170, China%Beijing Engineering Research Center of Safety and Energy Saving Technology for Water Supply Network System, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; Tianjin Centre, China Geological Survey, Tianjin 300170, China
• Subjects: Atmosphere; Atmospheric models; Bathymeters; Bathymetry; Climatology; Coastal zone; Comparative analysis; Computer simulation; Cyclones; Disaster relief; Disasters; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecology; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Environmental Chemistry; Extreme weather; Hurricanes; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Mathematical models; Numerical simulations; Ocean currents; Ocean models; Ocean surface; Ocean-atmosphere interaction; Oceanography; Oceans; Sea level; Sea level pressure; Storm surges; Storms; Tidal waves; Tide gauges; Tropical climate; Tropical cyclones; Typhoons; Water levels; Weather; Weather conditions; Weather forecasting; Wind; Wind fields; Bohai Sea; extratropical storm surge; WRF; the Bohai Sea; coupled atmosphere-ocean model; typhoon storm surge; ROMS
• ISSN: 0253-505X; 1869-1099
• DOI: 10.1007/s13131-019-1383-9

The Bohai Sea is extremely susceptible to storm surges induced by extratropical storms and tropical cyclones in nearly every season. In order to relieve the impacts of storm surge disasters on structures and human lives in coastal regions, it is very important to understand the occurring of the severe storm surges. The previous research is mostly restricted to a single type of storm surge caused by extratropical storm or tropical cyclone. In present paper, a coupled atmosphere-ocean model is developed to study the storm surges induced by two types of extreme weather conditions. Two special cases happened in the Bohai Sea are simulated successively. The wind intensity and minimum sea-level pressure derived from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model agree well with the observed data. The computed time series of water level obtained from the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) also are in good agreement with the tide gauge observations. The structures of the wind fields and average currents for two types of storm surges are analyzed and compared. The results of coupled model are compared with those from the uncoupled model. The case studies indicate that the wind field and structure of the ocean surface current have great differences between extratropical storm surge and typhoon storm surge. The magnitude of storm surge in the Bohai Sea is shown mainly determined by the ocean surface driving force, but greatly affected by the coastal geometry and bathymetry.