Numerical Modeling of Storm Surge Generated by Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii

Abstract

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) model (Luettich, et. al. 1992) is applied to simulate the storm surge generated by Hurricane Iniki (1992) in Hawaii. The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of the ADCIRC model in predicting hurricane-generated storm surge in the Pacific insular environment and to investigate the sensitivity of storm surge generation to different wind models for this particular region. The simulated results showed good agreement with the recorded storm surge near the southwest shore of Kauai Island where Iniki made landfall. Our present numerical results revealed that the dominant forcing factor for the storm surge generation by Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii is the drop in atmospheric pressure near the eye of the hurricane, while the wind-generated surface stress has little direct effect in generating the surge. i Research Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, gica@wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu 2 Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 3 Professor, Insifitute of Marine Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina, NC 28557 4 Associate Professor, Deparanent of Ocean and Resources Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 5 Oceanographer, Oceanography Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi 39529 6 Physical Scientist, Office of Science and Technology, National Weather Service, NOAA, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 7 Sel~or Research Hydraulic Engineer, US Army Engineering Waterways Experiment Station, Coastal Engineering Research Center, Vicksburg, Mississippi 39180