P56     Meteotsunamis in the Gulf of Mexico and eastern United States during hurricane seasons 2016-2018.

Olabarrieta, Maitane and Luming Shi, University of Florida, David S. Nolan, University of Miami, and John C. Warner, US Geological Survey

We analyzed the meteotsunami events along the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. East coast during the hurricane seasons 2016-2018. This period includes hurricanes Michael (2018), Florence (2018), Maria (2017), Irma (2017), Harvey (2017), Matthew (2016), and Hermine (2016). For the duration of each hurricane, we analyzed the free surface elevation measurements from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tidal gauge network. We complemented the analysis with NEXRAD atmospheric radar reflectivity, sea level atmospheric pressure, wind speed and wind gust, and air temperature measurements (when available). Results indicated the presence of meteotsunamis with maximum water level anomalies of up to 0.8 m. In four of the 16 analyzed hurricanes, maximum meteotsunami elevations exceeded 0.45 m. Most of these events were triggered by spiral rainbands. We used the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) modelling system to identify which types of spiral rainbands have a higher potential to trigger meteotsunamis. We used coupled atmosphere-ocean-wave idealized simulations to untangle the main mechanisms leading to the generation and propagation of meteotsunamis.