Parameterizing unresolved obstacles with source terms in wave modeling: A real-world application. (June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mentaschi, Lorenzo; Kakoulaki, Georgia; Vousdoukas, Michalis; Voukouvalas, Evangelos; Feyen, Luc; Besio, Giovanni
• Is Part Of: Ocean modelling. Volume 126(2018)
• Page Start: 77
• Page End: 84
• Publication Date: 2018-06
• Subjects: Wave modeling -- Subscale modelling -- Unresolved obstacles -- Wavewatch -- UOST -- Source term; Oceanography -- Periodicals; Océanographie -- Périodiques; Oceanography; Periodicals; 551.46
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ocemod.2018.04.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1463-5003

Abstract

Highlights: Unresolved Obstacles with Source Terms (UOST). Computation of transparency coefficients for any polygon, therefore for any mesh. Application of UOST to a real-world domain, the Caribbean Sea. Skills comparable to the established, scheme-based approach. Abstract: Parameterizing the dissipative effects of small, unresolved coastal features, is fundamental to improve the skills of wave models. The established technique to deal with this problem consists in reducing the amount of energy advected within the propagation scheme, and is currently available only for regular grids. To find a more general approach, Mentaschi et al., 2015b formulated a technique based on source terms, and validated it on synthetic case studies. This technique separates the parameterization of the unresolved features from the energy advection, and can therefore be applied to any numerical scheme and to any type of mesh. Here we developed an open-source library for the estimation of the transparency coefficients needed by this approach, from bathymetric data and for any type of mesh. The spectral wave model WAVEWATCH III was used to show that in a real-world domain, such as the Caribbean Sea, the proposed approach has skills comparable and sometimes better than the established propagation-based technique.