Oceanographic vulnerability to hurricanes on the Mexican coast

PAPER NO: 10

Following the devastation caused by hurricanes Gilbert (1988). Roxanne and Opal (1995), various projects have been undertaken (e.g., Silva et al., 2000). which will provide engineers and authorities tools for the evaluation and design of offshore and inland structures.

In this paper we present the methodology and numerical results for different return periods obtained for a) significant wave heights, wave peak periods, maximum winds, and minimum pressures, using Fujita's model (Bretchneider, 1990), and b) for flooding levels caused by hurricanes on the Mexican coastline, using a two-dimensional, vertically averaged finite difference model to evaluate the storm surge.