ADCIRC: An Advanced Three-Dimensional Circulation Model for Shelves, Coasts, and Estuaries. Report 5. A Tropical Storm Database for the East and Gulf of Mexico Coasts of the United States.

Abstract : This report summarizes results of a numerical storm surge study conducted for the east coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. The report describes a database of surge elevations and currents produced from the numerical simulation of 134 historically based tropical storm events and their maximum water level surge impact at 486 discrete locations along the east and gulf coasts of the United States and Puerto Rico. A visual indication of the spatial distribution of the peak surge elevation is provided in the form of an atlas of storm track and maximum storm surge corresponding to a 246-station nearshore subset of the 486-location database. The simulated events used to generate the results contained in this report are not intended to be hindcasts of historic events. The goal was to provide a database of events similar to historic events which can be used to evaluate project response to, or protection afforded from, events which are realistic in both magnitude and duration for a specific location. If use of the database indicates a more detailed study is necessary, then the modeling techniques described in this report can be used to hindcast specific events. This hindcasting procedure requires detailed verification of the storm event by comparing computed results to prototype data, a procedure which was beyond the scope of this study.