Numerical Simulations of Hurricane-Generated Currents

Abstract

Abstract The work described here involves the application of a three-dimensional numerical circulation model to the hindcasting of currents generated during two storms—Tropical Storm Delia and Hurricane Anita. Reasonably high-quality current and other data were collected during these two storms and are reported in the literature. The hindcasted results of the two storms are used to assess the accuracy of the model and to explore the relative importance of the forcing mechanisms which affect water circulation during a tropical storm event. The observed currents from both data sets indicate that the bottom shear stress is much larger than the surface shear stress during the storms, implying that a forcing mechanism other than the local wind is important in driving flow during the storm. Two possible mechanisms have been suggested in the literature—flow driven by pressure gradients and unsteady flow effects created by wind waves. The circulation model is used to study the first mechanism and the results indi...