Water level data for historic and future ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) model simulations of Hurricanes Isabel, Sandy, and Dorian, for Norfolk, Virginia, USA

This dataset consists of water level elevation relative to mean sea level (in meters) for historic and future ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) model simulations of three major storm events: Hurricane Isabel (2003), Hurricane Sandy (2012), and Hurricane Dorian (2019). ADCIRC is a hydrodynamic which integrates atmospheric and hydrologic data to predict water surface elevation and flow patterns during extreme storm events. The historic simulations contain water level elevation output under the recorded storm conditions for each of the hurricanes, simulating the storms as they originally occurred. The output from these simulations was validated against measured tidal records from multiple NOAA tide gauge stations including Wachapreague (ID 8631044), Kiptopeke (ID 8632200), and Sewells Point (ID 8638610). The future scenarios are simulations of these storms if they were to occur 40 years after the original date of the storm event to forecast the potential impacts of climate change. The parameters for the future simulations included a sea level rise of 0.2 m, and storm winds increasing by a factor of 1.1 (a 10% increase in wind speed). These parameters were based on historical trends of a 5 mm/year sea level rise at the Wachapreague tidal gauge station and a wind speed change rate over a 40-year period from the offshore CHLV2 NOAA buoy station. Included in this dataset are a time series of water level elevation throughout the duration of each storm simulation at each Norfolk location, and spatial data for the peak time of the storm where water levels are the highest (to represent peak storm surge) for each storm simulation. The spatial data includes coordinates on the model mesh and the corresponding water level elevation at each point. If no water was present NaN (missing) was recorded for that location.