Originally presented as the author's Habilitationsschrift--Vienna. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 398-443) and indexes.

The model equations for storm surge and tsunamis most commonly used are the shallow water equations with addition of appropriate source terms for bathymetry. Traditional approaches will need to resolve the mesh to discretize small-scale structure, which impacts the time-step size to be proportional to the size of cells. In this thesis, a novel approximate Riemann solver was developed in order to deal with the existence of barrier without restricting the time-step due to small cells. Because of the wave redistribution method and proper ghost cells setting, the novel Riemann solver maintained properties including mass and momentum conservation, the well-balancing properties and robustness at the wet-dry interface. The solver also preserves nonnegative water depth and prevents leakage. A modified h-box method is applied so the algorithm can overcome restrictions of small time-step sizes. The work has been done in the context of the GeoClaw platform with retaining the capabilities of GeoClaw solver. At the same time, the special developed Riemann solver extends the package to handle the sub-grid-scale effects of barriers. Incorporating the solver developed in this work into the GeoClaw framework has allowed to leverage GeoClaw’s ability to handle complex bathymetry and real applications.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-55). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-116). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The North American Monsoon System (NAMS) is a significant weather and climate phenomenon that brings critical rainfall to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. As a result of the North American Monsoon Experiment, and research efforts surrounding the field campaign, the understanding of the NAMS has increased considerably over the last 15 years. In addition questions concerning potential flash flood causing mechanisms of the NAMS have not been thoroughly investigated. This dissertation is comprised of two papers that collectively address the aspects of the literary understanding of the NAMS as we know it today and conduct an investigation into the complex interactions between various weather systems that may influence the NAMS. In the first paper, a review of the major research of the NAMS literature since the last comprehensive review 15 years ago is conducted. The results of his review are assessed for where our understanding has been improved and where future research needs to be guided for purposes of the second paper. Based upon the results from the literature review, the second paper focuses on identification of inverted troughs and gulf surges based upon lower- and mid-level atmospheric parameters for purposes of assessing the impacts on National Weather Service Storm Report flash flood dates. This research contributes to the synthesis of the current knowledge of the NAMS in general and to the specific regional impacts that do occur during periods of heavy precipitation over the NAMS region for purposes of improving meteorological predictability of flash flooding. The results can (1) gauge our understanding of the NAMS literature to date and (2) improve meteorological forecasts through the recognition of synoptic and sub-synoptic patterns related to the NAMS that are most likely to cause flash floods.

L'impact dynamique des montagnes sur la circulation de grande échelle de l'atmosphère passe généralement par des forces : pour cette raison, la partie de l'orographie qui n'est pas résolue par les modèles de circulation générale est prise en compte par la paramétrisations des forces qu'elle applique à l'atmosphère. Dans cette thèse , nous nous attacherons à comprendre l'impact des forces appliquées par les montagnes des moyennes latitudes, en particulier le Plateau tibétain, sur la circulation de l'atmosphère. Pour ce faire, nous utiliserons notamment le concept de couple appliqué par les montagnes sur l'atmosphère, traduction des forces à l'échelle globale. Les chaînes de montagnes les plus importantes des moyennes latitudes génèrent, à l'échelle synoptique, d'importantes vagues de froid appelées cold surges dans la littérature anglophone, un terme que nous traduirons littéralement par crues froides. L'importance du couple équatorial des montagnes dans l'initiation des crues froides sur l'Asie de l'Est (impact du Plateau tibétain), l'Amérique du Nord (impact des montagnes Rocheuses) et l'Amérique du sud (impact de la cordillère des Andes) est mise en évidence par une étude statistique. À l'aide d'un modèle dynamique simple, une interprétation du mécanisme sous-jacent à ce forçage est proposée, montrant que les forces de portance appliquées par la montagne à l'atmosphère dans la phase initiale des crues froides suffisent à leur déclenchement. L'impact dynamique du plateau tibétain sur la mousson d'hiver est-asiatique est important, en particulier sur les événements de convection en hiver sur la Mer de Chine Méridionale. Une séquence d'événements montrant cet impact a été identifiée statistiquement : un forçage dynamique de la circulation atmosphérique par le Plateau tibétain, se traduisant par un fort signal sur le couple des montagnes équatorial appliqué à l'atmosphère, est suivi par le déclenchement d'une crue froide puis, après quelques jours, par un renforcement de la convection profonde sur la Mer de Chine Méridionale. Cet effet dynamique du Plateau tibétain sur la mousson d'hiver s'étend au sud jusqu'à l'Indonésie et à l'ouest jusqu'à la Baie du Bengale. L'utilisation du modèle de circulation générale du Laboratoire de Métérorologie Dynamique, LMDz, permet de compléter les résultats observationnels décrits auparavant. Ce modèle ferme de manière satisfaisante le bilan de moment angulaire et permet de montrer que l'orographie sous-maille joue un rôle important sur la phase finale de l'évolution des crues froides. Des résultats nouveaux sont présentés sur le bilan de moment angulaire de l'atmosphère, en particulier en ce qui concerne l'impact du couple équatorial des montagnes et de la contribution du Plateau tibétain. Il est en particulier montré que le couple équatorial appliqué par le Plateau tibétain joue un rôle faible dans l'évolution temporelle du moment angulaire équatorial, mais un rôle significatif dans sa répartition spatiale / Mountains have an impact on the large scale circulation of the atmosphere, this impact being predominantly a consequence of the forces they exert on the atmosphere : for this reason, the part of the orography which is not resolved explicitly by the general circulation models is taken into account through parametrisations of the forces it applies to the atmosphere. This PhD thesis is focused on understanding the impact of the forces applied by the midlatitude mountains, particularly the Tibetan Plateau, on the atmosphere. For that purpose, we will consider the mountain torque applied by the mountains on the atmosphere, a global scale counterpart of the mountain forces.The major midlatitude mountain ranges can trigger massive synoptic scale cold surges on their eastern flanks. This thesis uncovers the importance of the equatorial mountain torque in triggering the cold surges over east-Asia (impact of the Tibetan Plateau), north-America (impact of the Rockie Mountains) and south-America (impact of the Andes cordillera). Using a simple dynamical model, an interpretation of the mechanism underlying the forcing of the cold surges by the equatorial mountain torque is proposed, showing that the existence of a lift force applied by the mountain on the atmosphere is sufficient for the triggering of cold surges.The dynamical impact of the Tibetan plateau on the east-asian winter monsoon, more specifically on the wintertime convection events on the South China Sea, is important. A typical sequence of events showing this dynamical impact has been identified statistically : a dynamical forcing of the atmospheric circulation by the Tibetan Plateau, materialized by a strong signal on the equatorial mountain torque on the atmosphere is followed quickly by the occurence of a cold surge and, a few days later, by an outburst of deep convection over the South China Sea. This dynamical effect of the Tibetan Plateau on the winter monsoon extends as far south as Indonesia, and westward to the Bay of Bengal. The use of the general circulation model of the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique general circulation model, LMDz, makes it possible to extend the observational results described above. This model closes properly the budget of atmospheric angular momentum, and will be used to show that that sub-grid sale orography plays an important role in the terminal phase of the evolution of cold surges. New results are presented concerning the equatorial atmospheric angular momentum budget are presented, adressing specifically the impact of the equatorial mountain torque and that of the contribution of the Tibetan Plateau. It is shown that the equatorial mountain torque applied by the Tibetan Plateau has only a weak role in the temporal evolution of the equatorial angular momentum, but a significant role concerning its spatial repartition

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.