Publications scientifiques

Storm surges are responsible for great damage to coastal property and loss of life every year. Coastal management and adaptation practices are essential to reduce such damage. Numerical models provide a useful tool for informing these practices as they simulate sea level with high spatial resolution. Here we investigate the ability of a barotropic version of the HAMSOM model to simulate sea level extremes of meteorological origin in the Mediterranean Sea, including those caused by explosive cyclones.

Storm surge modeling and forecast are the key issues for coastal risk early warning systems. As a general objective, this study aims at improving high-frequency storm surge variations modeling within the PREVIMER system (www.previmer.org), along the French Atlantic and English Channel coasts. The paper focuses on (1) sea surface drag parameterization and (2) uncertainties induced by the meteorological data quality. The modeling is based on the shallow-water version of the model for applications at regional scale (MARS), with a 2-km spatial resolution.

A three-year dataset (2007–2010) of shoreline and sandbar positions derived from video observations of an open sandy beach (Biscarrosse, France) is analyzed, to explore the impact of storms on the seasonal shoreline dynamics. The results indicate that a clear seasonality is observed in the offshore significant wave height and in the occurrence of ‘winter storm’ events that are defined as periods with significant wave height greater than 4 m lasting at least 12 h.

The detection of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals that are reflected off the surface, along with the reception of direct GNSS signals, offers a unique opportunity to monitor water level variations over land and ocean. The time delay between the reception of the direct and reflected signals gives access to the altitude of the receiver over the reflecting surface. The field of view of the receiver is highly dependent on both the orbits of the GNSS satellites and the configuration of the study site geometries.

Storm-induced coastal flooding is among the most destructive natural disasters, as seen recently in the Bay of Bengal, the Gulf of Mexico and the Philippines. This study presents a high resolution hindcast of the flooding associated with Xynthia, a mid-latitude storm that severely hit the central part of the Bay of Biscay in February 2010. A 2DH fully coupled modeling system is applied to the North-East Atlantic Ocean, with a resolution locally reaching a few meters along the coastline of the study area.

This study analyzes historical archives to produce a database of storm-induced coastal flooding in the French central part of the Bay of Biscay since 1500 AD. From this new database, 46 coastal floods have been reported for the last 500 years (1 event every 11 yr on average), which demonstrates the high vulnerability of this region to coastal flooding. The limitations of historical archives prevent concluding to a change in storminess over the period.

Le SHOM est le référent national pour l'observation, la gestion et la diffusion des mesures in situ du niveau de la mer.

Sea level extremes in the Caribbean Sea are analyzed on the basis of hourly records from 13 tide gauges. The largest sea level extreme observed is 83 cm at Port Spain. The largest nontidal residual in the records is 76 cm, forced by a category 5 hurricane. Storm surges in the Caribbean are primarily caused by tropical storms and stationary cold fronts intruding the basin. However, the seasonal signal and mesoscale eddies also contribute to the creation of extremes.

The knowledge of the statistical distribution of extreme sea levels at the coast is of utmost importance for the characterization of flood risks in coastal areas. In this study we consider that the sea level results from two components: the (astronomical) tide and the (meteorological) surge, without considering the effects of waves. We focus our attention on the dependence of the surge height on the tidal level. At sites with a strong tidal range, the classical analysis methods rely on working only with high tide data (namely high tidal levels and skew surges).