CoastFLOOD: A High-Resolution Model for the Simulation of Coastal Inundation Due to Storm Surges

Storm surges due to severe weather events threaten low-land littoral areas by increasing the risk of seawater inundation coastal floodplains. In this paper, we present recent developments a numerical modelling system for induced sea level elevation storm enhanced astronomical tides. The proposed code (CoastFLOOD) performs high-resolution (5 m × 5 m) raster-based, storage-cell Manning-type equations in decoupled 2-D formulation at local-scale (20 km 20 km) lowland It is fed either outputs regional-scale surge simulations or satellite altimetry data anomaly. presented case studies refer model applications 10 selected sites Ionian Sea (east-central Mediterranean Sea). implemented regular Cartesian grids (up are based on Digital Elevation/Surface Models (DEM/DSM) Hellenic Cadastre. New updated features discussed herein concerning detailed surveying terrain roughness and bottom friction, expansion Dirichlet boundary conditions currents (besides level), enhancement wet/dry cell techniques flood front propagation over steep water slopes. Verification performed comparisons against ocean color observations (Sentinel-2 images) estimated flooded Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). qualitative acceptable, i.e., modelled contain all wet area estimations NDWI. CoastFLOOD results also compared simplified, static level, “bathtub” approach with hydraulic connectivity revealing very good agreement (goodness-of-fit > 0.95). Furthermore, show that proper treatment referring realistic Land Cover datasets provides more maximum extent timeframe.