SHyTCWaves: A stop-motion hybrid model to predict tropical cyclone induced waves

Abstract

Waves produced by tropical cyclones (TCs) can be estimated using non-stationary wave models forced with time-varying wind fields. However, dynamical simulations are time and computationally demanding at regional-scale domains since high temporal and spatial resolutions are required to correctly simulate TC-induced wave propagation processes. Applications such as early warning systems, coastal risk assessments and future climate projections benefit from fast and accurate estimates of wave fields induced by close-to-real storm tracks geometry. The proposed SHyTCWaves methodology constitutes a novel tool capable of estimating the spatio-temporal variability of directional wave spectra produced by TCs in deep waters, using a hybrid approach and statistical techniques to reduce CPU time effort. This work demonstrates that TC-induced waves can be reconstructed using a stop-motion approach based on the addition of successive 6 h periods of time-varying storm conditions. The developed hybrid model reduces a TC track to a number of segments that are parameterized in terms of 10 representative TC features, and generates a library of cases dynamically pre-computed which allow to ensemble consecutive 6 h analog segments representing the original TC track. The metamodel has been compared and corrected with available satellite data, and its applicability is exemplified for TC Ofa in the South Pacific.