Abstract
ABSTRACTThe protective capability of fringing reefs against tsunami hazards has been reported in numerous post-disaster surveys. It is believed that global warming is changing the water level over the reef flat and reef surface roughness by sea-level rise and coral bleaching. For a better understanding of the influence of climate change on tsunami hazards over fringing reefs, this study utilized a shock-capturing Boussinesq wave model, FUNWAVE-TVD, to simulate the tsunami-like solitary wave propagation and run-up over fringing reefs. Calibrated and validated by the newly obtained experimental data, the present model with shock-capturing scheme, in which only the ratio of wave height to water depth is used to trigger wave breaking, shows reasonable prediction of solitary wave transformation and run-up height over sharply varying reef bathymetry. Numerical experiments were then carried out to investigate the effects of sea-level rise and degrading of the reef surface roughness on the solitary wave inundation distance and fluid force distribution in the inundation zone. Numerical results clearly demonstrate how tsunami hazards change within the inundation zone in response to higher water levels and lower reef roughness and suggest climate change, especially sea-level rise, will significantly increase tsunami hazards in the low-lying areas of the reef-lined coasts. Presented results are discussed for the effects of sea-level rise and coral bleaching on the solitary wave process and implications to further improve the resilience under the threat of climate change.
Highlights
Submarine landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions in open sea areas often trigger destructive shoreward tsunamis
This ratio has been proved to be robust for the wave processes over the sloping plane beach (Shi et al 2012) and here we demonstrate that this ratio is valid for the solitary wave propagation over the sharply varying reef bathymetry, where parameters of empirical breaking models have to be tuned (Yao et al 2012), with no need of tuning
Twelve cases were designed to investigate how the water-level rise over the reef flat and degrading of the reef surface roughness affect the maximum horizontal inundation distance and fluid force distribution in the inundation zone
Summary
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions in open sea areas often trigger destructive shoreward tsunamis. It is believed that the above-average seawater temperatures caused by global warming are the leading cause of the coral bleaching (Michael 2016) These effects directly increase the water depth over the reef flat and degrade the reef surface roughness, which may have an impact on the protective capability of fringing reefs against tsunami hazards. The responses of solitary wave inundation distance and fluid forces within the inundation zone to climate change-related sea-level rise and reef surface roughness degrading were investigated and discussed to give some insights into the influence of climate change on tsunami hazards over fringing reefs. Numerical results of how solitary wave inundation distance and fluid force distribution within the inundation zone change in response to sea-level rise and the degrading of the reef surface roughness are presented.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
