A study of the potential effects of deepening the Corpus Christi Ship Channel on hurricane storm surge

We present a case study of the potential impact on hurricane storm surge due to deepening the Corpus Christi Ship Channel through Aransas Pass in the region of Corpus Christi and Port Aransas, Texas. Our investigation is based on numerical mathematical models of the circulation of coastal water due to Hurricane Harvey and a synthetic hurricane derived from Harvey. The circulation models are based on the numerical solution of the shallow water equations using finite element and finite difference techniques. The shallow water equations are solved within the framework of the widely used ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) numerical model. From the models, we ascertain maximum storm surge as well as elevation time series at critical locations in the study region. To assess the effects of a deeper channel, we compare the model outputs for current and proposed future channels. The model results indicate that the changes to maximum storm surge magnitude are small and in large portions of the study area the models indicate a reduction in surge magnitude. However, there are some local areas where the models results show an increase of up to 30 centimeters in a synthetic extreme storm scenario.