Sources for Storm Surge Data

For storm surge computations the input data is very similar to tsunamis save for the specification of the forcing storm (as opposed to an earthquake). There are multiple ways to specify a storm forcing in GeoClaw which include

1. Storms described by a set of observerd parameters for which the wind and pressure fields are constructed by a parametric model such as the Holland 1980 model. These generally require: - the maximum wind speed, - the radius at which the maximum winds occurs, - the central pressure of the storm, - the location of the center of the storm (the eye), - and sometimes the maximum radius of the storm is also included.

2. Storm described by a grided set of data. This includes output from a modeled storm such as from HWRF, or observed values if dense enough. Here GeoClaw will interpolate this data to the grid cells as needed rather than assume a particular profile for the wind and pressure.

For the parameterized storm data there are a number of sources supported for this data and there is a listing in _storm_module of available input formats. Valid input files for this type of input are made available by the particular agency involved:

• ATCF

• HURDAT

• JMA

• IMD

• TCVITALS

Note that not all these formats are currently fully supported and may require some work to be readable.