Forcing of resonant modes on a fringing reef during tropical storm Man-Yi

Abstract

Open basin resonant modes have been observed at tidal frequencies on coastal shelves, but their excitation on coral reef platforms has only been suggested. The topography of and water depth over most fringing reefs correspond to resonant periods that are the order of tens of minutes and fall outside of the energetic part of the wave spectrum. During tropical storm Man-Yi, low frequency near resonant oscillations dominated the variance of the sea surface elevation at the shoreline of Ipan reef, Guam. The excitation of the resonant modes resulted both from a large increase in water level over the reef due to wave setup, which increased the resonant frequencies, and the occurrence of wave group forcing with time scales commensurate with these increased resonant frequencies. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.