STORM-SURGE COMPUTATIONS FOR THE IRISH SEA USING A 3-DIMENSIONAL NUMERICAL-MODEL INCLUDING WAVE-CURRENT INTERACTION

A brief overview of the mathematical development (with references to t he literature for detail) of a high-resolution (of order 1 km grid) th ree-dimensional model of the wind-driven flow in the eastern Irish Sea , including wave-current interaction is presented. The model is applie d to the computation of the storm surge of November 1977, and the impo rtance of local wind fields compared to far-field winds upon the surge in the eastern Irish Sea is examined. The significant improvement in surge elevations at Liverpool produced by using a high-resolution grid is clearly demonstrated by comparing results with earlier coarse grid models. Further improvement obtained by including wave-current intera ction effects is also demonstrated. Differences between surface and ne ar-bed currents and the high degree of spatial variability in bottom c urrents during major storms in the eastern Irish Sea is also considere d. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved