Modeling wave characteristics in the North Eastern Gulf of Mexico

Dmitry S. Dukhovskoy and Steven L. Morey

Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies
Florida State University

A critical component of the FSU Big Bend Region coupled modeling system developed to support NOAA Northern Gulf Institute related research projects in the area is a wave model. The primary goal of the wave modeling component is to investigate the role that waves play in physical and biological processes in the region, such as flux parameterization for the air-sea interaction, ocean mixing, larvae transport by Stokes drift, and others. For the simulation of waves, the SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) model, version 40.68, is used. The wave model is coupled to the ocean component based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and the Advanced WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) atmospheric model. The wave-ocean coupling is two-way. From the ocean component, the ocean model exports the following information to the wave model: sea surface height and vertically integrated current. The wave model sends the following fields to the ocean model: wave direction, wave amplitude, wave length, surface wave relative peak period, bottom wave period, wave bottom orbital velocity. Wave-atmosphere coupling is currently one-way in that the wave model receives wind stress components from the atmospheric model, but two-way coupling through modification of the air-sea turbulent fluxes is under development. Preliminary results from the simulation are presented.