Evaluation of Parametric Wind Models for Wave and Storm Surge Modelling of Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy made landfall in October, 2012, on the New Jersey coast south of Fire Island, New York. Fire Island is a barrier island on the south side of Long Island, and was severely impacted during Hurricane Sandy with extensive overwash and erosion leading to the breaching of the island in three locations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the offshore waves and storm surge generated by Hurricane Sandy, such that the storm impacts on nearshore hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and morphological changes of the barrier island and back-barrier bay can be evaluated. The Delft3D circulation model coupled to the SWAN wave model are used to simulate the storm event over a regional grid of the New York Bight and western continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean. Three different spatially-varying wind fields are evaluated and compared to wind observations, including: the parametric Holland model, a parametric Generalized Asymmetric Holland Model, and results from the Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (Weatherflow). The winds are used to drive the coupled hydrodynamic and wave models; and the wave statistics, directional wave spectra, and storm surge elevations are compared to observations at several offshore buoys and coastal monitoring sites to investigate the impact of the complex wind field on sea surface evolution.