Dr Roger Proctor¹, Dr Christelle Auguste¹

¹Tidetech Commercial Marine Pty Ltd, Hobart, Australia

Tropical Cyclone Debbie made landfall near Airlie Beach, northern Queensland,  in March 2017 after crossing the Great Barrier Reef as a slow-moving Category 4 system, with still water levels exceeding the highest astronomical tide by almost a metre. A thorough observational analysis was carried out by Mortlock et al (https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2603-2018) who raised interesting questions about the implications of landfall timing and cyclone track. This raised our curiosity on how these implications may actually eventualise. The modelling study presented here explores a number of questions, notably: how well can we simulate the observed event?; how does sea level change if landfall coincided with high water?; how does the Great Barrier Reef affect cyclone landfall?; how might predicted climate change impact on tropical cyclones?  Outcomes from these studies have implications for the impacts of future tropical cyclones on Australia’s northern coasts.

Biography:

Christelle completed her PhD in coastal modelling/renewable energy at the AMC (UTAS) in 2021. Since then, she has been a researcher at Tidetech focusing on modelling tides and the impact of tropical cyclones.