Normal mode analysis on storm events in the Gulf of Tonkin and Leyte Gulf

Abstract

In this study, we have applied normal mode analysis on recent past storm events in the Gulf of Tonkin and the Leyte Gulf. The normal modes for each location are obtained from the previously developed unstructured normal mode decomposition solver based on the finite element method. The analysis of the two recent past storm events using the normal modes derived from the solver has been investigated in these two locations. The first event is tropical cyclone NARI (2013) in the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam and the second one is the super typhoon HAIYAN (2013) in the Leyte Gulf, the Philippines. Apart from obtaining the site-specific storm hazard summary through the normal mode shape, the study also aims to gain a deeper understanding on how normal modes contributed to the overall surge from the analysis of these past storm events.