M.Ohkusu

Kyushu University, Japan

We are interested in predicting waves caused by storms in a specified bay. Is your new model able to account for refraction and reflection of waves to predict the storm waves in a bay whose shape and bottom topography are specified?

Our new model includes refraction and reflection. These two effects are calculated through:

1. Action fluxes, which include wave-current interactions, through the action conservation equation (Lin and Huang, 1996, Lin, 1998). These action fluxes depend on the bottom topography, and spectrum.

2. Nonlinear wave-wave interactions, as presented in Lin and Perrie (1997). The refraction and reflection of waves therefore also depend on the shape of the waves, the frequency domain, wave amplitude, and bottom topography, because these are important factors in estimating nonlinear wave-wave interactions.

3. Coastal boundaries, which define the character of the boundaries. For example, if the boundary is smooth, then refraction is strong. If the boundary is rough, then the waves will be absorbed by the boundary. Reflection also depends on the angle of incidence: whether the boundary is straight, or tilted.

[1] Lin, R.-Q. and N.Huang, 1996: The Goddard Coastal Wave Model. Part II. Kinematics. J. of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 26, No. 6, 848–862.

[2] Lin, R.-Q., 1998: Reply Comments on Part II by Tolman et al., J. of Phys. Oceanogr., Vol. 28, No. 6, 1309–1318.

[3] Lin, R.-Q. and W.Perrie, 1997: A New Coastal Wave Model, Part III. Nonlinear Wave-wave Interactions. J. of Physical Oceanogr., Vol. 27, No. 9, 1813–1826.