Probabilistic-deterministic storm surge return level dataset for the Bengal delta

Bengal delta shoreline, spanning Bangladesh and India, gets hit every 3 years on average by a major tropical cyclone. Although their occurrence is relatively moderate compared to other tropical regions (accounting for only 5% of global cyclones), the impact of these events is major, accounting for 50% of the victims recorded worldwide. This is due to the very low topography of the delta above sea level (less than 5 meters), high storm surge induced water level and flooding, combined with the high density of the vulnerable population. 

On one hand, the unavailability of long-term reliable water level data on a sparse tide-gauge network along the coastline has hindered the assessment of storm surge hazards. The application of hydrodynamic modelling to fill the data gap also suffers from the unavailability of a reliable long-term storm dataset over the region. The complex topography of the Bengal delta, with defence structures, and a dense network of rivers presents another modelling challenge. Finally, the interaction of tide, surge and wave further complicate the numerical complexity, needing a coupled modelling framework. 

Thanks to advancements made to acquire high-quality regional nearshore bathymetry and topography (Krien et al. 2016, Khan et al. 2019), as well as coupled storm surge modelling (Krien et al. 2017, Khan et al. 2021), the tidal and storm surge dynamics over the Bengal delta is now well captured by recent high-resolution coupled SCHISM-WWM Bay of Bengal model (Khan et al. 2021). To estimate the risk of storm surge and associated flooding across the Bengal delta, we have integrated the wave-coupled hydrodynamic model of Khan et al. (2021) for a large ensemble (~3600 cyclones, ~5000 years of storm activity) of synthetic cyclones generated through the statistical-deterministic method of Emanuel (2006). Our storm and surge ensemble covers the whole range of natural variability of storm frequency, size, intensity and track location, with a dense spatial distribution. The interactions among the tide, surge, and waves are modelled explicitly at high spatial resolution. The storm surge-induced water level at various return periods, up to 500 years, is then determined at high spatial resolution (250m at the coast) using a ranking-based technique.

The dataset distributed here represents the storm surge water level estimate (e.g. total water level from the tide, surge, and wave computed dynamically through the model) at 25 to 500 year return period (25-year step). The corresponding variable in the self-describing netCDF data file is 'maxelev'. The estimated storm surge water level values are interpolated in a 30" (~1km at the equator) structured grid over the Bengal delta from the original unstructured-grid model outputs (250m resolution at the coast). 

This dataset is a part of a manuscript, currently being submitted to Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (https://nhess.copernicus.org/). Please cite the original paper, along with the dataset if used in your work as -  Khan, M. J. U., Durand, F., Emanuel, K., Krien, Y., Testut, L., and Islam, A. K. M. S.: Storm surge hazard over Bengal delta: A probabilistic-deterministic modelling approach, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2021-329, in review, 2021.