Skip to main content

PNNL

  • About
  • News & Media
  • Careers
  • Events
  • Research
    • Scientific Discovery
      • Biology
        • Computational Biology
        • Ecosystem Science
        • Human Health
          • Cancer Biology
          • Exposure Science & Pathogen Biology
        • Predictive Phenomics
        • Microbiome Science
          • Biofuels & Bioproducts
          • Human Microbiome
          • Soil Microbiome
          • Synthetic Biology
        • Chemical Biology
        • Integrative Omics
          • Advanced Metabolomics
          • Chemical Biology
          • Mass Spectrometry-Based Measurement Technologies
          • Spatial and Single-Cell Proteomics
          • Structural Biology
      • Chemistry
        • Computational Chemistry
        • Chemical Separations
        • Chemical Physics
        • Catalysis
      • Materials Sciences
        • Materials in Extreme Environments
        • Precision Materials by Design
        • Science of Interfaces
        • Solid Phase Processing
          • Cold Spray
          • Friction Stir Welding & Processing
          • ShAPE
      • Nuclear & Particle Physics
        • Dark Matter
        • Flavor Physics
        • Fusion Energy Science
        • Neutrino Physics
      • Quantum Information Sciences
      • Earth & Coastal Sciences
        • Global Change
        • Atmospheric Science
          • Atmospheric Aerosols
          • Human-Earth System Interactions
          • Modeling Earth Systems
        • Coastal Science
        • Ecosystem Science
        • Subsurface Science
        • Terrestrial Aquatics
    • Energy Resiliency
      • Electric Grid Modernization
        • Emergency Response
        • Grid Analytics
          • AGM Program
          • Tools and Capabilities
        • Grid Architecture
        • Grid Cybersecurity
        • Grid Energy Storage
        • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
          • Earth System Modeling
          • Energy System Modeling
        • Transmission
        • Distribution
      • Energy Efficiency
        • Appliance and Equipment Standards
        • Building Energy Codes
        • Building Technologies
          • Advanced Building Controls
          • Advanced Lighting
          • Building-Grid Integration
        • Building and Grid Modeling
        • Commercial Buildings
        • Federal Buildings
          • Federal Performance Optimization
          • Resilience and Security
        • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
        • Residential Buildings
          • Building America Solution Center
          • Energy Efficient Technology Integration
          • Home Energy Score
        • Energy Efficient Technology Integration
      • Energy Storage
        • Electrochemical Energy Storage
        • Flexible Loads and Generation
        • Grid Integration, Controls, and Architecture
        • Regulation, Policy, and Valuation
        • Science Supporting Energy Storage
        • Chemical Energy Storage
      • Environmental Management
        • Waste Processing
        • Radiation Measurement
        • Environmental Remediation
      • Fossil Energy
        • Subsurface Energy Systems
        • Carbon Management
          • Carbon Capture
          • Carbon Storage
          • Carbon Utilization
        • Advanced Hydrocarbon Conversion
      • Nuclear Energy
        • Fuel Cycle Research
        • Advanced Reactors
        • Reactor Operations
        • Reactor Licensing
      • Renewable Energy
        • Solar Energy
        • Wind Energy
          • Wind Resource Characterization
          • Wildlife and Wind
          • Community Values and Ocean Co-Use
          • Wind Systems Integration
          • Wind Data Management
          • Distributed Wind
        • Marine Energy
          • Environmental Monitoring for Marine Energy
          • Marine Biofouling and Corrosion
          • Marine Energy Resource Characterization
          • Testing for Marine Energy
          • The Blue Economy
        • Hydropower
          • Environmental Performance of Hydropower
          • Hydropower Cybersecurity and Digitalization
          • Hydropower and the Electric Grid
          • Materials Science for Hydropower
          • Pumped Storage Hydropower
          • Water + Hydropower Planning
        • Grid Integration of Renewable Energy
        • Geothermal Energy
      • Transportation
        • Bioenergy Technologies
          • Algal Biofuels
          • Aviation Biofuels
          • Waste-to-Energy and Products
        • Hydrogen & Fuel Cells
        • Vehicle Technologies
          • Emission Control
          • Energy-Efficient Mobility Systems
          • Lightweight Materials
          • Vehicle Electrification
          • Vehicle Grid Integration
    • National Security
      • Chemical & Biothreat Signatures
        • Contraband Detection
        • Pathogen Science & Detection
        • Explosives Detection
        • Threat-Agnostic Biodefense
      • Cybersecurity
        • Discovery and Insight
        • Proactive Defense
        • Trusted Systems
      • Nuclear Material Science
      • Nuclear Nonproliferation
        • Radiological & Nuclear Detection
        • Nuclear Forensics
        • Ultra-Sensitive Nuclear Measurements
        • Nuclear Explosion Monitoring
        • Global Nuclear & Radiological Security
      • Stakeholder Engagement
        • Disaster Recovery
        • Global Collaborations
        • Legislative and Regulatory Analysis
        • Technical Training
      • Systems Integration & Deployment
        • Additive Manufacturing
        • Deployed Technologies
        • Rapid Prototyping
        • Systems Engineering
      • Threat Analysis
        • Advanced Wireless Security
          • 5G Security
          • RF Signal Detection & Exploitation
        • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
        • Internet of Things
        • Maritime Security
        • Millimeter Wave
        • Mission Risk and Resilience
    • Data Science & Computing
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Graph and Data Analytics
      • Software Engineering
      • Computational Mathematics & Statistics
      • Future Computing Technologies
        • Adaptive Autonomous Systems
      • Visual Analytics
    • Publications & Reports
    • Featured Research
  • People
    • Inventors
    • Lab Leadership
    • Lab Fellows
    • Staff Accomplishments
  • Partner with PNNL
    • Education
      • Undergraduate Students
      • Graduate Students
      • Post-graduate Students
      • University Faculty
      • University Partnerships
      • K-12 Educators and Students
      • STEM Education
        • STEM Workforce Development
        • STEM Outreach
        • Meet the Team
      • Internships
    • Community
      • Regional Impact
      • Philanthropy
      • Volunteering
    • Industry
      • Available Technologies
      • Industry
      • Industry Partnerships
      • Licensing & Technology Transfer
      • Entrepreneurial Leave
      • Visual Intellectual Property Search (VIPS)
  • Facilities & Centers
    • All Facilities
      • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement User Facility
      • Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center
      • Energy Sciences Center
      • Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory
      • Grid Storage Launchpad
      • Institute for Integrated Catalysis
      • Interdiction Technology and Integration Laboratory
      • PNNL Portland Research Center
      • PNNL Seattle Research Center
      • PNNL-Sequim (Marine and Coastal Research)
      • Radiochemical Processing Laboratory
      • Shallow Underground Laboratory

Ocean Dynamics & Modeling

  • Marine Renewable Energy
    • Tidal Energy
    • Wave Energy
    • Offshore Wind Energy
    • Sea-Ice Effects
  • Coastal Hazards
    • Storm Surge
    • Sea Level Rise
    • Tsunami Modeling
  • Marine Ecosystems
    • Macroalgae
    • Water Quality
  • News & Publications
  • About Us
  • Resources

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Projects
  3. Ocean Dynamics & Modeling

Storm Surge

Coastal zones are subject to the risks of coastal inundation and flooding induced by episodic extreme events, such as tropical and extratropical cyclones and river floods, as well as long-term sea level rise due to global warming. The Ocean Dynamic Modeling group develops coupled modeling frameworks to simulate and predict the coastal flooding processes under different forcing mechanisms and provide high-resolution data sets to support coastal resilience and mitigation of extreme flooding.

 

Simulated storm surge and coastal inundation induced by Hurricane Katrina using a Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM). Animation shows the storm surge height under historical condition without sea level rise effects (left) and future conditions with 0.3 m sea level rise (right).
 
Projects

Predicting Storm Surge and Extreme Waves in the Salish Sea. This project assessed the storm surge and extreme wave characteristics to support coastal resilience in the Salish Sea using a high-resolution coastal model. Model results suggested that the maximum storm surge in the Salish Sea is generally in the range of 0.8 m to 1.03 m and is highly heterogeneous in space. Model results also suggested that the Strait of Juan de Fuca has the largest waves and is dominated by swells propagated from the Pacific Ocean, while waves in Puget Sound are small and primarily dominated by the wind-sea climate.

illustration of storm surge height showing map of Washington state
Distribution of maximum storm surge height (m) in the Salish Sea based on simulations of all 34 storm surge events. Values on the map indicate the mean maximum storm surge levels in the sub-basins. Strait of Juan de Fuca (SJDF); Strait of Georgia (SG); North Sound (NS); San Juan Islands (SJI); Whidbey Basin (WB);Hood Canal (HC); West Sound (WS); Main Basin (MB); and South Sound (SS).

Simulating Storm Surge and Coastal Inundation in the Gulf of Mexico Using a Regional Integrated Assessment Modeling (RIAM) Approach. In this study, a coastal storm surge model was developed to simulate coastal inundation in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm surge model was forced with a series of sea surface wind fields, from re-analysis to dynamic downscaling, to assess the vulnerability of coastal energy infrastructure under extreme events and future climate scenarios.

illustration of stom surge
Distribution of offshore infrastructure and selected hurricane tracks (left); unstructured mesh of the storm surge model FVCOM for the Gulf of Mexico (center); simulated sea surface wind field with WRF model.

Coupled Modeling of Coastal Flooding in the Delaware Bay Estuary. Low-lying coastal areas in the mid-Atlantic region are prone to compound flooding resulting from the co-occurrence of river floods and storm surges. This project aims to investigate the effects of compound flooding and nonlinear interactions between various forcing mechanisms in the Chesapeake–Delaware Bay system using a high-resolution unstructured-grid coastal ocean model, FVCOM. The FVCOM model will be further coupled with the DHSVM hydrological model and the urban flooding model RIFT to evaluate the risk of extreme events on urban infrastructure in future climate conditions. 

three images of different colors demonstrating storm surge
Unstructured model grid of Delaware Bay (left); comparison of modeled and observed water levels at three NOAAtide gauges; and simulated storm surge height in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay during Hurricane Irene (right) ​

Contact

Zhaoqing Yang
Earth Scientist
zhaoqing.yang@pnnl.gov
206-528-3057

PNNL

  • Get in Touch
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Doing Business
    • Environmental Reports
    • Security & Privacy
    • Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
  • Research
    • Scientific Discovery
    • Energy Resiliency
    • National Security
Subscribe to PNNL News
Department of Energy Logo Battelle Logo
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is managed and operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • X (formerly Twitter)
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn