Meteotsunamis in Orography‐Free, Flat Bathymetry and Warming Climate Conditions

Abstract

AbstractDue to a lack of suitable coupled atmosphere‐ocean modeling tools, the atmospheric source mechanisms that trigger the potentially destructive meteotsunami waves – which occur with periods ranging from a few minutes to a few hours – have remained partially unexplored until recently. In this process‐oriented numerical work we therefore investigate and quantify the impacts of orography and extreme climate changes on the generation and propagation of the atmospheric pressure disturbances that occurred during six different historical meteotsunami events in the Adriatic Sea. In addition, the impact of bathymetry, and hence Proudman resonance, on the propagation of the meteotsunami waves is investigated for the same ensemble of events. Our main findings can be summarized as follows: (a) Removing the mountains does not have a strong effect on either the generation or propagation of the meteotsunamigenic disturbances but may slightly increase their intensity, especially over land; (b) Extreme climate warming has the potential to increase the intensity of both atmospheric disturbances and meteotsunami waves near sensitive coastal areas; while (c) Flattening the bathymetry of the deepest Adriatic Sea tends to deflect the meteotsunami waves away from sensitive harbor locations. Such sensitivity studies, if generalized to other geographic locations with a higher number of events, may provide new insights into the still unknown physics of meteotsunami generation.