Simulating hurricane Gustav and Ike wave fields along the Louisiana innershelf: Implementation of an unstructured third-generation wave model, SWAN

In this study we implement the recently developed unstructured mesh SWAN for simulating wave fields during hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which made landfall along the Gulf coast of the United States during September 2008. The model is validated using NDBC buoy observations offshore and data from several WA VCIS stations along the Louisiana coast From a fundamental research perspective, the numerical output from the unstructured version of SWAN, spectral as well as bulk wave parameters, when compared to in situ observations, show excellent agreement Our study results also imply that targeted sand mining from Sabine Bank, southwest Louisiana, would lead to negligible variations in the nearshore wave field; however, extensive dredging may render the coast vulnerable to higher energy waves and, therefore, more erosion and littoral sediment transport The conclusions from our study are also useful for designing viable dredging plans for the offshore sand deposits, such as Sabine Bank, for supporting coastal restoration and maintenance projects proposed along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast.