Modeling of Last Recent Tropical Storms in the Arabian Sea

Abstract

The Gulf of Oman and the Makran coastline as a part of the Arabian Sea are subjected to tropical cyclones influence on an infrequent basis; however, these cyclones can generate relatively large sea states. In this paper, recent tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea were studied employing a third-generation spectral wave model and a 2D hydrodynamic model. The wind field of all cyclones is produced through an empirical wind generation model. The results of wave and hydrodynamic models are compared with data measured at different stations on the Gulf of Oman. The significant wave height, the peak wave period, the mean wave direction, and the water level changes are the four key features taken into consideration. Based on the results, it could be concluded that the Young and Sobey parametric model is an appropriate technique to regenerate cyclonic wind fields over the Arabian Sea. In addition, the significant wave height, peak wave period, and the mean wave direction were reasonably predicted, despite the fact that the water level changes of the model were to some extent underestimated. The distribution of the wave fields and water level changes are presented to investigate the critical wave and surge in the study area.