An Operational Coastal Wave Forecasting Model for New Jersey and Long Island Waters

Abstract

ABSTRACT A high-resolution (approximately 1 km) wave forecastingmodel has been developed for the coastal waters of New Yorkand New Jersey through a two-year National Weather-Service(NWS)-funded COMET project and through the collaborationof researchers from the Stevens Institute of Technology(Stevens), in Hoboken, NJ, and NWS marine forecasters fromthe Mount Holly, NJ, forecast office. The wave model has been ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS :Marine meteorology forecasts,Operational Coastal Oceanogra-phy. Paper submitted and accepted 1August 2006 for the 2006 ASBPAEducational Award. continuously operational since 15 May 2006, each day pro-ducing 48-hour graphical forecasts for significant wave height,wave direction, and wave period. Marine forecasting productsare available to Mount Holly NWS forecasters, as well as tothe general public, through the New York Harbor Observationand Prediction System (NYHOPS) Web site http://www.stevens.edu/maritimeforecast, designed and maintainedby Stevens. T he main goal of this study was todevelop an operational wave fore-casting system that would be usedto disseminate high-resolution forecastsof the wave environment along the shoreof New York and New Jersey by meansof the existing New York Harbor Obser-vation and Prediction System(NYHOPS) Web site created and main-tained by the Stevens Institute of Tech-nology (Stevens). The primary need forthis system was that the current waveforecast models available from the Na-tional Weather Service (NWS) resolvewave fields at a resolution of 25 km, lim-iting their use in terms of understandingthe complex coastal environment and thefactors most important to wave propa-gation across the shelf waters offshoreof New York and New Jersey. Anotherpurpose for this study was to provide atesting environment for new, increasinglysophisticated, wave models. The new,high-resolution (approximately 1 km)forecasting system was successfully de-signed through collaborative work byNWS forecasters and Stevens engineers.