Revisit simulation of 1953 storm surge in the North Sea

Abstract

The 1953 North sea floods were the worst natural disaster in Europe in modern times. Arapidly moving low pressure system caused a strong storm surge - the largest everrecorded on the UK east coast - which killed over 2100 in the Netherlands, UK andelsewhere along the North Sea coast. The storm led directly to the decision to constructflood defences such as the dutch deltawerken and the UK Thames Barrier. The floodswere caused by a deep low pressure system (min pressure 966 Mb) which moved rapidlysoutheast across the North Sea, causing strong northwesterly gales. Although not anespecially deep system, it moved close to the land, giving sustained winds (0ver 50 knotsfor 24 hours). The night of 31st January was a high spring tide, exacerbating the effectsof the storm surge (http://www.storm-surge.info/north-sea-flood-1953). A coupled processbased tide-wave-surge model has been used to simulate the storm surge that occurred inEurope in January-February 1953. Typhoon and meteorological forcing inputs for theperiod, the end of January &#8211 early February,1953 are prepared via ECMWF asbackground meteorological conditions and Holland type vortex typhoon fields. The waterelevation (tide+surge) determined from the estimation of the Japanese NAOTIDE (NationalAstronomical Observatory) database was imposed at the tidal open boundary. The tidalcharts of eight constituents were shown here. The stoands, UK andelsewhere along the North Sea coast. The storm led directly to the decision to constructflood defences such as the dutch deltawerken and the UK Thames Barrier. The floodswere caused by a deep low pressure system (min pressure 966 Mb) which moved rapidlysoutheast across the North Sea, causing strong northwesterly gales. Although not anespecially deep system, it moved close to the land, giving sustained winds (0ver 50 knotsfor 24 hours). The night of 31st January was a high spring tide, exacerbating the effectsof the storm surge (http://www.storm-surge.info/north-sea-flood-1953). A coupled processbased tide-wave-surge model has been used to simulate the storm surge that occurred inEurope in January-February 1953. Typhoon and meteorological forcing inputs for theperiod, the end of January &#8211 early February,1953 are prepared via ECMWF asbackground meteorological conditions and Holland type vortex typhoon fields. The waterelevation (tide+surge) determined from the estimation of the Japanese NAOTIDE (NationalAstronomical Observatory) database was imposed at the tidal open boundary. The tidalcharts of eight constituents were shown here. The sto