Brus et al. (2026) A Subgrid Correction Scheme for Accurate km‐Scale Coastal Inundation in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-01
• Authors: Steven Richard Brus, Damrongsak Wirasaet, Darren Engwirda, Coleman Blakely, Mary Titterton, Mark R. Petersen, Carolyn Begeman, Andrew Brian Kennedy, Joannes Westerink
• DOI: 10.1029/2026ms005842

Research Groups

• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
• Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project team

Short Summary

This study introduces subgrid scale corrections into a 2-D barotropic ocean model to improve the representation of coastal exchanges and flooding. The results show that these corrections can lead to significant speedup in simulations while maintaining accuracy.

Objective

• Investigate the feasibility of using subgrid scale corrections to enhance the resolution of coastal ocean tidal and storm surge exchanges in global barotropic ocean models

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional to global scales, with a focus on coastal areas
• Temporal Scale: Decadal timescales, with a focus on extreme events such as hurricane storm surges

Methodology and Data

• Models used: MPAS-Ocean (Energy Exascale Earth System Model)
• Data sources: High-resolution digital elevation maps, satellite data, and reanalysis datasets

Main Results

• Subgrid scale corrections can lead to up to a 23× speedup in simulations for a given level of accuracy compared to standard grid-scale models
• The subgrid model is able to accurately represent coastal exchanges and flooding, with results validated through an analytical test case and a hindcast of Hurricane Sandy (2012)

Contributions

• This study provides a novel approach to improving the resolution of coastal ocean tidal and storm surge exchanges in global barotropic ocean models, enabling more accurate and efficient representation of these processes

Funding

• Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project (NSF ACI-1445758)
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

Citation

@article{Brus2026Subgrid,
  author = {Brus, Steven Richard and Wirasaet, Damrongsak and Engwirda, Darren and Blakely, Coleman and Titterton, Mary and Petersen, Mark R. and Begeman, Carolyn and Kennedy, Andrew Brian and Westerink, Joannes},
  title = {A Subgrid Correction Scheme for Accurate km‐Scale Coastal Inundation in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model},
  journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2026ms005842},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026ms005842}
}