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Dynamic water level correction

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Dynamic Water Level Correction is a process by which modeled water levels are dynamically adjusted by use of a forcing term. The correction can be applied as constant or varying in space and/or time. The correction is applied as a forcing term in the momentum equations whose mathematical form is equivalent to that of an atmospheric pressure term. This means that, for gradually-varying corrections, corrected water levels should closely follow the input correction, though these may deviate if a correction is applied very quickly or to an area that has a very weak connection to an open boundary through which water can flow. Further discussion is below in the FAQ.

Overviews and examples of this capability have been provided in multiple presentations (Luettich et al. 2017[1], Asher et al. 2018[2]) and a journal article (Asher et al. 2019[3]) with details and an application to Hurricane Matthew. Users looking for ways to generate water level correction surfaces can look to that same article and this digital publication/data repository[4], which holds the code base used in the aforementioned paper.

Version

ADCIRC version: 54

Early versions of this feature were implemented in v53, however important bug fixes and a renaming of related variables[5] were done later, so users are strongly encouraged to not use these earlier versions.

Controlling Water Level Correction

The water level correction feature is triggered by the presence of the &dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionControl namelist at the bottom of the fort.15 file. Here is an example of how this line is used:
&dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionControl dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionFileName="hsofs_offset_test_ft.dat" dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionMultiplier=0.3048, dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampStart=0.0, dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampEnd=259200.0 dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampReferenceTime="hotstart", dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionSkipSnaps=0 /

  • dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionMultiplier allows one to easily change the entire dataset by a single factor, e.g. if the data were provided in feet; ADCIRC requires meters.
  • dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampStart and dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampEnd are the time in seconds for a linear ramp up period.
  • dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampReferenceTime controls whether the ramp times are relative to the hotstart time or the coldstart time. Prior to the start of the ramp, the correction values are multiplied by 0.0, eliminating the correction until the ramp period starts.
  • dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionSkipSnaps is used to skip the specified number of initial data sets in the corrections data file. It can also be used to insert blank snaps at the beginning of the run if it is negative.

Water Level Correction Input File

ADCIRC looks for the water level correction input file in the same directory as the other full-domain files, both in serial and in parallel. In parallel, each subdomain does domain decomposition of the correction data on the fly, so the only change to adcprep is the read/write of the new namelist to the subdomain fort.15 files. The water level correction input file starts with the following three lines:

# test file for 1ft correction on hsofs mesh during matthew
14400.0        # time increment between datasets -- read but ignored if constant correction
0.0            # default correction value

The first line is a comment line. The second line is the time interval in seconds between successive datasets. The third line is the default correction value; this allows us to create correction input files in a "sparse" format where only the non-default values are provided.If there is only one dataset in the correction file, then the values are treated as temporally constant. If there is more than one dataset, ADCIRC linearly interpolates between them in time. If ADCIRC runs out of correction data, it continues with the last dataset as a set of constant values for the remainder of the run.

Because each correction dataset may have a different number of values, the # (hash, pound, or number) symbol is used as a separator. Specifically, users should place a line containing # in the first and second columns, i.e. ##, of the file after the end of the current time snap of data. When ADCIRC sees this, it understands the next line is the start of the next time snap of data.

Output

If a water level correction input file is specified, then the time interpolated water level correction values will be written to a file called offset.63 on the same schedule as output to the fort.63. This file can then be used as a diagnostic to check that the correction values have been applied as expected.

Compatibility

Although the correction is implemented as a pseudo barometric pressure, it is entirely independent of any/all meteorological forcing and meteorological data. The values do not show up in the fort.71 (barometric pressure stations) or fort.73 (fulldomain barometric pressure field) output files. The correction can be used with any meteorological forcing data, or with no meteorological forcing data at all.

Example

An ADCIRC model is coldstarted with a tide only run that uses a 10 day ramp, and runs for 15 days. How should the water level correction be configured?

In this case, I suggest that you apply your bias correction after reaching full strength tidal forcing (i.e., after the 10 day tidal ramp). So to have your bias correction ramp completed at the end of the 15 day tidal spinup, start the ramp period at 10.0 days and end it at 13.0 days. This should ensure you clearly see the correction occurring when you look at the output data, while avoiding applying the correction too rapidly. In summary, set your ramp period in the fort.15 file to dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampStart =864000.0, dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampEnd = 1036800.0

Since this is the model spin-up period, using a time-constant correction is likely sufficient. That means a single time snap of correction data can be supplied, for example:

# bias correction values test for GFS 20161002 cycle 00Z 
99999.9        # time increment in seconds; not used in this case
0.0            # default nodal value applied to any node not specified below
234    0.5
1223  0.6
1789  -0.2
4000  0.1 
##

After the spinup, in preparation for a forecast run, when you want to migrate from one set of bias correction values to another over a 6 hour time period, the fort.15 file's dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionControl line would be something like this:
&dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionControl dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionFileName= "offset_migration_from_00Z_to_06Z.dat", dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionMultiplier = 1.0, dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampStart = 1252800.0, dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampEnd = 1296000.0, dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionRampReferenceTime = "coldstart", dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionSkipSnaps = 0 /

and the corresponding file would look like something like the following:

# bias correction values for GFS 20161002 from cycle 00Z to cycle 06Z 
21600.0        # 6 hour time increment in seconds
0.0            # default nodal value applied to any node not specified below
234    0.5
1223  0.6
1789  -0.2
4000  0.1 
##
512   0.3
1001  -0.5
2346  0.74
4000  -0.1
##

At the end of the 15.0 day tidal spinup in this example the bias correction at node 234 would be 0.5. Three hours later (after the hotstart) it would be 0.25. Six hours after the hotstart it would be zero.

At the end of the 15.0 day tidal spinup in this example the bias correction at node 1001 would be 0.0. Three hours later (after the hotstart) it would be -0.25. Six hours after the hotstart it would be -0.5.

At the end of the 15.0 day tidal spinup in this example the bias correction at node 4000 would be 0.1. Three hours later (after the hotstart) it would be 0.0. Six hours after the hotstart it would be -0.1.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: When writing the &dynamicWaterLevelCorrectionControl namelist, should I write the parameters on a single line, comma separated?
Answer: I always put fortran namelist parameters on a single line and separate the assignments with commas, but other formatting may be possible depending on the compiler you are using. Commas has always worked for me, but I've not tried any other way.

Question: Do I need to ramp the correction, i.e., is it wise to do so for some reason?
Answer: It should behave the same as a sudden application of atmospheric pressure forcing, which could lead to (presumably spurious) waves. Our shortest ramp up period is 12 hours but you might get away with 6 hours or even less. We have seen that rapidly ramping in the correction can lead to two outcomes that may be undesirable. One is a strong geostrophic current response. The other is that the water level response can lag behind the correction. This is most common for large water bodies with narrow connections to the open ocean, such as Pamlico Sound in North Carolina. Further details are in Asher et al. 2019[3].

Question: Does the application of a dynamic water level correction surface affect the velocity solution (not just the elevation solution as it is primarily intended)?
Answer: Yes, hopefully in a physically realistic manner. As an example, when applying a water level correction to a back bay area with a nearby tidal inlet, the water level change in the back bay must be reflected in the velocity in the inlet in order to maintain continuity (conservation of mass). In the case of an initial application of a temporally steady water level correction, this velocity effect should be a one-time occurrence. On the other hand, for a time varying water level correction surface, the continuous adjustments to the water level will be continuously reflected in the velocity solution. This should be physically realistic when the water should have come from offshore, but if the elevated water level is due to rainfall, then the model is directing flow in the wrong direction. Further details are in Asher et al. 2019[3].

References

  1. Luettich, R.L., T.G. Asher, B.O. Blanton, J.G. Fleming. Representing Low Frequency, Spatially Varying Water Level Anomalies in Storm Surge Computations. 2017 American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting. Link to talk
  2. Asher, T.G., R.L. Luettich, J.G. Fleming, B.O.Blanton. Assimilation of Observed Water Levels into Storm Surge Model Predictions. 2018 American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting. Link to talk
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Asher, T.G., Luettich Jr., R.A., Fleming, J.G., Blanton, B.O., 2019. Low frequency water level correction in storm surge models using data assimilation. Ocean Modelling 144, 101483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2019.101483
  4. Asher, T., 2019. Hurricane Matthew (2016) Storm Surge and Wave Simulations with Data Assimilation. https://doi.org/10.17603/2Z8H-7K90
  5. If using an older version, note that in the fort.15 file, instances of "dynamicWaterLevelCorrection" should be changed to "offset" in the namelist parameter names, e.g. "offsetControl".