Wind setup

This phenomenon becomes especially significant when water is funnelled into shallow or narrow areas, leading to higher storm surges.

To measure the wind setup effect in coastal areas, the (calculated) astronomical tide is subtracted from the observed water level.

However, globally, tropical regions like the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean often experience even higher wind setups during hurricane events, underscoring the importance of this phenomenon in coastal and flood management strategies.

This method, combined with real-world data, is used in countries like the Netherlands to predict wind setup along the coast during potential storms.

[8] To calculate the wind setup in a lake, the following solution for the differential equation is used: In 1966 the Delta Works Committee recommended using a value of 3.8*10−6 for

For confined environments such as marshes or small fetches, a simplified empirical model for wind setup has been proposed by Algra et al (2023).

[5] This model was designed to estimate wind setup in the Suisun Marsh, where fetch lengths are smaller and shallow water depth conditions apply.

In their 2023 analysis of Van Sickle Island, Algra et al. found this model effective for environments with limited fetch and shallow depth, where the more complex approaches used for open coasts are unnecessary.

Unlike the more detailed differential equation formulations used for larger open coasts or lakes, the Van Sickle model provides a practical approximation for confined areas where wind setup may still be significant but where spatial constraints simplify the overall water movement dynamics.