Coupled process-based cyclone surge simulation for the Bay of Bengal

We have developed a wind-wave-surge coupled process-based numerical model for simulating storm surge, consisting of a meso-scale atmospheric model (MM5), a third-generation spectral wave model (WW3) and a coastal ocean model (POM). We introduced an additional sea surface shear stress by wave dissipation into the model to consider the process of energy transfer from winds to currents through whitecap breaking. We demonstrate the importance of this energy transfer path through a hindcast simulation of a cyclone surge in April, 1991 in the Bay of Bengal: it helps generate mean current and has wave effects on wind-induced current fields in extremely shallow water areas.