Coastal Flooding Assessment Induced by Barometric Pressure, Wind-Generated Waves and Tidal-Induced Oscillations: Kaštela Bay Real-Time Early Warning System Mobile Application

Abstract

Our work presents a reliable procedure to obtain real-time assessment of the sea water elevation at the Kaštela Bay site to ensure the a priori warning in the case of expected coastal flooding along the site area. In its origin, the presented procedure relies on relevant data sets which are site-specific and locally observed. Observed data sets are used within the procedure to assess sea water surface elevation when induced by barometric pressure changes and wind-generated waves. Tidal-induced changes are introduced into the assessment procedure by a pre-learned algorithm which relies on long-term sea level oscillations from the relevant tidal gauge. Wind-generated wave heights are determined in the near shore area, following the features of the depth and reflection of the shoreline subsections. By coupling three mechanisms, this paper offers a unique real-time procedure to determine the sea water elevation and assess the possibility for coastline structure to be flooded by the sea. Given information is visualized in a form of mobile application that implements the algorithm and allows end users to set the notifications based on the given ruleset.