Landward limit of wind setup on beaches

Open coast storm surge water levels consist of a wind shear forcing component generally referred to as wind setup; a wave setup component caused by wind-induced waves transferring momentum to the water column; an atmospheric pressure head component due to the atmospheric pressure deficit over the spatial extent of the storm system; a Coriolis-forced component due to effects of the rotation of the earth acting on the wind-driven alongshore current at the coast; and, if astronomical tides are present, an astronomical tide component. Astronomical tide is considered to be predictable and, therefore, not a meteorological driven component of storm surge although there may be interaction between the tide and meteorological driven water levels. Typically the most important component of storm surge on the US East Coast and Gulf of Mexico shorelines is the wind setup component. The importance of inland flooding due to the wind setup component of storm surge is considered herein with special reference to the effect of subaerial slope on inland flooding where three different linear slopes are considered and storm surge is calculated for the region above still water level, using an analytic solution. The present study findings show that the inland storm surge from the wind setup component can be of considerable importance and lead to significantly higher storm surges than found for storm surge at the still water level intersection of the beach/land. It is shown that mild slopes can lead to very high water levels at the land–water interface (i.e. above the still water level intersection of the beach).