Minutes
IOOS COMT Puerto Rico/USVI bi-weekly call
Thursday, July 31, 1-3 pm ET
Present: Andre van der Westhuysen (PI, minutes), Joannes Westerink, Jesse Feyen, Aurelio Mercado,
Reniel Calzada, Cristina Forbes, Jay Veermony, Ed Myers, Elizabeth Smith.
Absent: Juan Gonzalez, Jamie Rhome, Jane Smith, Ernesto Rodrigues, Carlos Anselmi, Julio Morell.
1. Household items
a) Andre distributed an abstract for the AMS Annual Meeting, Jan 4-8, 2015. Action: All please
provide any feedback by Aug 8.
b) Liz mentioned that there appears to be a slow burning rate for the current (Year 1, aka
“FY13”) funding. Aurelio mentioned that his student Reniel is currently being paid out of
CariCOOS funding. Joannes mentioned that he needs all funds to be received and put on a
project account at UND before he can book time. Action: All please check the invoicing of
our sub-contacts (non-federal only).
c) The group discussed organizational issues around the All Hands meeting of Aug 6-7. Please
register if you have not done so already. A webinar facility will be available (20 lines) for
those who cannot attend in person. There is no required format for our project presentation.
However, Liz noted that Zdenka Willis (IOOS) will be attending, so she recommended that
our project briefing provides feedback on how we are meeting our deliverables and how we
are communicating with our partners (especially in operations). Action: Andre to complete
and distribute draft All Hands briefing to group.
2. CyberInfrastructure and models
Discussed the composition of modeling test plan, summarized in Tables 1 and 2:
a) Model grids: It is proposed to use two main sets of model grids: The first will be unstructured
meshes based on Juan’s ADCIRC runs, covering the Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of
Mexico, to be used for ADCIRC-based models (ADCIRC+SWAN, ADCIRC+WW3). The
second will be SLOSH basins developed by MDL, covering only the Puerto Rico and USVI
region, to be used by SLOSH- and Delft3D-based models (SLOSH+SWAN,
Delft3D+SWAN). In the latter case, the SWAN runs will be conducted on regular grids. (Jay
verified that Delft3D has successfully run on an experimental PR SLOSH basin, although
boundary conditions need special attention.) The SLOSH run will receive tides from the
large-domain ADCIRC runs, and likewise the Delft3D run will receive tidal boundary
conditions.
The ADCIRC unstructured mesh developed for Juan’s tidal runs have approx. 2.5 million
nodes and have a coastal resolution of 20-30 m at the Puerto Rico coast. By contrast, the latest
SLOSH basin has a coastal resolution of approx. 90 m. It is therefore proposed to apply also a
lower-res ADCIRC mesh with a coastal resolution of around 90 m to match that of the
SLOSH basin for model comparisons (similar to what was done in COMT1). In this regard.
Joannes observed that high resolution was required in areas such as the Dominican Republic
for numerical stability (in other places, such as Louisiana, resolution can be reduced without
issues.
Regarding the phase-resolving models such as FUNWAVE and Bouss2D/XBeach, the
differences between 1D and 2D approaches will be investigated. [Update: 08/03/14]
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b) Bathymetries: The group agreed that the bathymetry sources used in all the models should
match as closely as possible. We need to match up the data sources used respectively by Juan
and MDL in building the ADCIRC and SLOSH grids. Joannes observed that it is especially
important that the water depths along the nesting boundary of SLOSH match up with that of
ADCIRC, otherwise spurious boundary effects will be created. Ed commented that for NOS’s
VDatum grid high-resolution data from the NGDC was used, supplemented by background
data from the ETOPO1 away from the islands. Aurelio added that this is the mesh used in the
FEMA Flood Insurance study for the island. Action: Juan and Cristina to make an
inventory of bathy data used for the ADCIRC and SLOSH grids.
c) Atmospheric forcing:
a. Parametric wind models: ADCIRC-based models to be forced with most recent
asymmetric parametric wind models. Delft3D can receive gridded wind fields (UV)
from ADCIRC based on this parametric model – but look into replacing this with
direct wind stress input. SLOSH to be forced with its own parametric model. Action:
All: Still to be determined whether SLOSH will also be forced with the same (most
advanced) parametric model (read as gridded field), in the interest of apples-to-apples
results comparison.
b. WRF/OWI gridded wind fields: ADCIRC- and Deflt3D-based models to be forced
with gridded wind fields prepared by WFO San Juan and possibly OWI. Action: All:
Still to be determined whether his will also be done for SLOSH.
d) Physical processes to investigate: The influence of a number of processes and sensitivities
will be studied:
a. Grid resolution, to test the influence on resolving processes (see above).
b. Tidal potential on/off, to test the influence on tidal generation and propagation.
c. Bed friction parameterizations, such as the use of variable vs. uniform Manning’s n.
The inclusion of detailed reef features, mangrove dissipation descriptions, etc.
d. Wind stress: Investigate wind sheltering and drag parameterization alternatives.
e. Refraction and Doppler shifting on/off in wave models, to test the effect on wave
propagation (mostly for extra-tropical swells [Update: 08/03/14]
f. Wave dissipation processes: Depth induced breaking, nonlinear interaction
g. River run-off impacts, by including radiation boundary condition in ADCIRC based
on observations (e.g. at Loiza River, PR).
Table 1: Grids and atmospheric inputs
Model
ADCIRC
ADCIRC+SWAN
ADCIRC+WW3
SLOSH+SWAN
Delft3D+SWAN
FUNWAVE/
Bous2D/XBeach
Unstr.
mesh
(2030m)
X
X
X
Unstr.
mesh
(90m)
PR
SLOSH
basin
(90m)
2D
vs.
1D
X
X
X
Tidal
run
Asym
vortex
input
WRF
field
input
OWI
field
input
X
X
X
X
X
X
?
X
X
X
?
X
X
X
X
X
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Table 2: Physical processes
Model
ADCIRC
ADCIRC+SWAN
ADCIRC+WW3
SLOSH+SWAN
Delft3D+SWAN
FUNWAVE/
Bous2D/XBeach
Tidal
potential
on/off
Bed
type
parameterization
Wind
sheltering/
Drag
Wave
Refraction/
Doppler
shift
Wave
dissipation
processes
River
discharge
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Next meeting: Thursday, Aug 14, 1-3 pm ET.
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