Kankara, R.S.; Mohan, R., and Venkatachalapathy, R., 2013. Hydrodynamic modelling of Chennai coast from a coastal zone management perspective.
A thorough knowledge of hydrodynamic conditions of coastal waters is a primary requirement for understanding and resolving environmental management issues. The present study is aimed at characterizing the hydrodynamic regime of Chennai coastal waters through field investigations and numerical modelling. To this end, time series oceanographic data on tide, current, and wind were collected for 15 days each during SW monsoon and NE monsoon seasons. The data analysis revealed that tides were semidiurnal in nature and that the ratio of diurnal (O1, K1) and semidiurnal (M2, S2) constituents was 0.19 and 0.24 for the two respective seasons. The average current was 17 cm/s N during SW monsoon and 10 cm/s S during NE monsoon. A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model was also set up and validated with the field data successfully. The model results of water level and current were compared with field observations for both seasons and found to be satisfactory. The correlation was 0.89 and 0.99 for surface elevation and 0.56 and 0.73 for current speed. The relative mean absolute error (RMAE) and index of agreement (IoAd) were also computed for both seasons. The RMAE and IoAd analysis revealed that model validation was found to be “excellent” for water level and “very good” for current.
