Using multiple-resolution data in an adaptive simulation for typhoon-induced waves in northwest Pacific Ocean

Abstract

Due to the very large expanse of warm water in the northwest Pacific Ocean, typhoons are stronger and occur more frequently than hurricanes. In addition, there is usually a lack of unified high-resolution data of wind fields and bathymetry since multiple countries can be influenced by a typhoon. Therefore, we use multiple-resolution data in an adaptive simulation for typhoon-induced waves. Higher-resolution data are obtained from the government of Taiwan and are used for the area around Taiwan. In the other area, lower resolution data are adopted from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States. An adaption criterion is implemented such that the highest resolution numerical grids move with the typhoon in a large-scale simulation. The numerical results obtained by the large-scale simulation with multiple-resolution wind fields are improved over those obtained by a smaller scale simulation with the higher resolution wind field at buoys near Taiwan. In addition, the large-scale simulation also provides results for buoys where the higher resolution wind field is not available. In addition, a speedup of fourfolds by the dynamic adaption model over the partially uniform grid one is demonstrated.