Modeling Multiscale and Multiphysics Coastal Ocean Processes: A Discussion on Necessity, Status, and Advances

Abstract

Coastal ocean flows are interconnected by a complex suite of processes. Examples are inlet jets, river mouth effluents, ocean currents, surface gravity waves, internal waves, wave overtopping, and wave slamming on coastal structures. It has become necessary to simulate such oceanographic phenomena directly and simultaneously in many disciplines, including coastal engineering, environmental science, and marine science. Oceanographic processes exhibit distinct behaviors at specific temporal and spatial scales, and they are multiscale, multiphysics in nature; these processes are described by different sets of governing equations and are often modeled individually. In order to draw the attention of the scientific community and promote their simulations, a Special Issue of the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering entitled “Multiscale, Multiphysics Modelling of Coastal Ocean Processes: Paradigms and Approaches” was published. The papers collected in this issue cover physical phenomena, such as wind-driven flows, coastal flooding, turbidity currents, and modeling techniques such as model comparison, model coupling, parallel computation, and domain decomposition. This article outlines the needs for modeling of coastal ocean flows involving multiple physical processes at different scales, and it discusses the implications of the collected papers. Additionally, it reviews the current status and offers a roadmap with numerical methods, data collection, and artificial intelligence as future endeavors.