Using wind setdown and storm surge on Lake Erie to calibrate the air-sea drag coefficient

PLoS One. 2013 Aug 19;8(8):e72510. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072510. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

The air-sea drag coefficient controls the transfer of momentum from wind to water. In modeling storm surge, this coefficient is a crucial parameter for estimating the surge height. This study uses two strong wind events on Lake Erie to calibrate the drag coefficient using the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Wave Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system and the the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). Simulated waves are generated on the lake with Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN). Wind setdown provides the opportunity to eliminate wave setup as a contributing factor, since waves are minimal at the upwind shore. The study finds that model results significantly underestimate wind setdown and storm surge when a typical open-ocean formulation without waves is used for the drag coefficient. The contribution of waves to wind setdown and storm surge is 34.7%. Scattered lake ice also increases the effective drag coefficient by a factor of 1.1.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air*
  • Calibration
  • Computer Simulation
  • Cyclonic Storms*
  • Ice
  • Lakes*
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Oceans and Seas*
  • Seasons
  • Water Movements*
  • Wind*

Substances

  • Ice

Grants and funding

The NCAR Earth System Laboratory (NESL) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research provided computational support. NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in the publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.