High Resolution Field Observations of Meteotsunamis off the Coast of Louisiana, USA

Abstract:

Meteotsunamis are sea level oscillation with characteristic time scales of the order of hours, generated by atmospheric pressure disturbances. Meteotsunamis occurrences are common in coastal environments (e.g., observations on the Florida Atlantic coast, in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and in the Mediterranean Sea) and pose a significant threat to coastal communities and coastal infrastructures. Here, we investigate meteotsunami events using data collected by an array of sensors deployed along the coast of Louisiana. The experiment was set up in two phases with the sensors deployed at several locations on the continental shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico between December 2017 and May 2018, and December 2018 and May 2019. To correlate with atmospheric activity, hydrodynamic observations are compared to meteorological data from nearby NOAA stations (reflectivity, wind speed, wind direction, atmospheric pressure, and atmospheric temperature). The data analysis suggests that meteotsunami events associated with atmospheric pressure systems passing through the area can occur as frequently as three times in one month. It appears that the atmospheric conditions over the Gulf of Mexico are ideal for the generation of meteotsunamis that are observed near the Louisiana coast during the winter and spring months. Real time high resolution monitoring of the ocean along with meteorological observations of the area could be used in the future to forecast these events.