Numerical Modeling of Meteorological Tsunamis in the Yellow Sea

Abstract

In March 2007, a meteorological tsunami occurred in the Yellow Sea and brought destructive effects to coastal areas along the west coast of Korea. In addition to that, on May 2008, a meteorologicaltsunami generated unexpected abnormal high waves around breakwaters in Jukdo island, located on the western coast of Korea, and caused several casualties. There have been some studies toidentify the generation mechanism of the meteorological tsunamis occurred in the Yellow Sea, but many unknown processes, including propagation over irregular bathymetry and the generation of alarge run-up at the coast, remain unidentified. In this study, numerical experiments were conducted to identify the generation and amplification mechanisms of the meteorological tsunami in the Yellow Sea. To achieve this objective, we generated virtual meteorological tsunamis using atmospheric pressure disturbances based on observational data and simulated their propagation in the Yellow Sea and run-up process in coastal areas. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, MOHID, and a Boussinesq-type wave model, FUNWAVE-TVD Version 2.0, were employed to simulatethe generation and transformation of the meteorological tsunamis, respectively. The numerical models were first validated by comparing the numerical results with the available tidal records observed during the event, and then used to identify the generation and amplification mechanism of the mh waves around breakwaters in Jukdo island, located on the western coast of Korea, and caused several casualties. There have been some studies toidentify the generation mechanism of the meteorological tsunamis occurred in the Yellow Sea, but many unknown processes, including propagation over irregular bathymetry and the generation of alarge run-up at the coast, remain unidentified. In this study, numerical experiments were conducted to identify the generation and amplification mechanisms of the meteorological tsunami in the Yellow Sea. To achieve this objective, we generated virtual meteorological tsunamis using atmospheric pressure disturbances based on observational data and simulated their propagation in the Yellow Sea and run-up process in coastal areas. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, MOHID, and a Boussinesq-type wave model, FUNWAVE-TVD Version 2.0, were employed to simulatethe generation and transformation of the meteorological tsunamis, respectively. The numerical models were first validated by comparing the numerical results with the available tidal records observed during the event, and then used to identify the generation and amplification mechanism of the m