Adrean Webb

News

2022 May 23 - The hybrid session [A-OS15] Waves, Storm Surges, and Related Hazards will be held at the annual JpGU meeting in Chiba, Japan.
2022 May 6 - "Transitional Wave Climate Regions on Continental and Polar Coasts in a Warming World" has been accepted for publication in Nature Climate Change.
2022 March 1 - I am excited to announce that I will be joining the Department of Physics at the Tokyo Institute of Technology from April, where I will be starting a new position as an Associate Professor.

Research Interests

I am interested in modeling coastal hazards and ocean-related phenomenon using the latest advances in mathematical and numerical analysis.

Meshless Ocean Dynamics Modeling

I am currently focused on developing fast meshless storm surge and spectral wave models specifically designed for long climate runs. This work is in collaboration with Natasha Flyer.

Waves, Storm Surges, and Climate

While at Kyoto University, I investigated the impacts of climate change on coastal hazards for the Japanese government-funded Tougou Project (Theme D led by Eiichi Nakakita).

Wave Energy Resources / Waves and Sea-Ice

While at The University of Tokyo, I worked with Takuji Waseda on a NEDO project to estimate the available wave energy resources for Japan. I also worked on an Arctic Challenge for Sustainability (ArCS) project to forecast the wave field for the rapidly changing Arctic climate.

Internal Tidal Waves

While at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, I worked with Hidekatsu Yamazaki to model the generation and dissipation of nonlinear internal tidal waves in a ria estuary (Otsuchi Bay). This work was part of a larger project to study the impact of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Wave-Induced Mixing

For part of my thesis, I worked with Baylor Fox-Kemper to derive a new set of approximations for Stokes drift and optimize an ocean surface wave model component for coupling with the NCAR Community Earth System Model (using NOAA WAVEWATCH III).

Code & Data

MATLAB

Stokes drift: Functions for different depth-dependent and depth-integrated approximations can be found here and on the MATLAB Central File Exchange. The functions use either 1D or 2D wave spectra and can handle an arbitrary number of spatial and temporal dimensions. A detailed description of the different approximations can be found in this publication (and respective preprint).

NOAA WAVEWATCH III

Doppler-shifted wave power density: Variable current effects can be added to wave power calculations within WAVEWATCH III (version 4.18) by modifying the source code function 'w3iogomd.ftn'. Differences between the original and modified files are listed here; the intermediate form is also included since the built-in-version has an undocumented bug (in the spectral tail calculation).

Web GIS Dataset

Wave and current resource assessment: An online interactive dataset was created to assist with marine renewable energy development in Japan. A detailed description of the dataset can be found in this conference proceeding, and the full dataset can be accessed here.

Publications

Journal Publications

2022 "Transitional Wave Climate Regions on Continental and Polar Coasts in a Warming World."
I. Odériz, N. Mori, T. Shimura, A. Webb, R. Silva, and T.R. Mortlock; Nature Climate Change, in press.
2021 "Natural variability and warming signals in global ocean wave climates."
I. Odériz, R. Silva, T.R. Mortlock, N. Mori, T. Shimura, A. Webb, R. Padilla-Hernandez, and S. Villers; Geophysical Research Letters, 48, Article e2021GL093622. [http]
2021 "Recent nationwide climate change impact assessments of natural hazards in Japan and East Asia."
N. Mori, T. Takemi, Y. Tachikawa, H. Tatano, T. Shimura, T. Tanaka, T. Fujimi, Y. Osakada, A. Webb, and E. Nakakita; Weather and Climate Extremes, 32(100309):1-23. [http]
2020 "Climatic trends of extreme wave events caused by Arctic Cyclones in the western Arctic Ocean."
T. Waseda, T. Nose, T. Kodaira, K. Sasmal, and A. Webb; Polar Science, 27(100625):1-16. [http]
2020 "Assessment of wave energy resources and their associated uncertainties for two coastal areas in Japan."
K. Sasmal, T. Waseda, A. Webb, S. Miyajima, and K. Nakano; Journal of Marine Science and Technology, 26:917-930. [http]
2020 "A high-resolution, long-term wave resource assessment of Japan with wave-current effects."
A. Webb, T. Waseda, and K. Kiyomatsu; Renewable Energy, 161:1341-1358. [http]
2019 "Robustness and uncertainties in global multivariate wind-wave climate projections."
J. Morim, M. Hemer, X.L. Wang, N. Cartwright, C. Trenham, A. Semedo, I. Young, L. Bricheno, P. Camus, M. Casas-Prat, L. Erikson, L. Mentaschi, N. Mori, T. Shimura, B. Timmerman, O. Aarnes, Ø. Breivik, A. Behrens, M. Dobrynin, M. Menendez, J. Staneva, M. Wehner, J. Wolf, B. Kamranzad, A. Webb, J. Stopa, and F. Andutta; Nature Climate Change, 9:711-718. [http] [cover]
2019 "2018 Typhoon Jebi Post-Event Survey of Coastal Damage in the Kansai Region, Japan."
N. Mori, T. Yasuda, T. Arikawa, T. Kataoka, S. Nakajo, K. Suzuki, Y. Yamanaka, A. Webb, and 2018 Typhoon Jebi Coastal Disaster Survey Team; Coastal Engineering Journal, 61(3):278-294. [bib] [http]
2018 "Impact of the four-wave quasi-resonance to freak wave shapes in the ocean."
W. Fujimoto, T. Waseda, and A. Webb; Ocean Dynamics, 69(1):101-121. [bib] [http]
2018 "Development of waves under explosive cyclones in the Northwestern Pacific."
Y. Kita, T. Waseda, and A. Webb; Ocean Dynamics, 68(10):1403-1418. [bib] [http]
2018 "Predictability of storm wave heights in the ice-free Beaufort Sea."
T. Nose, A. Webb, and T. Waseda; Ocean Dynamics, 68(10):1383-1402. [bib] [http]
2018 "Correlated Increase of High Ocean Waves and Winds in the Ice-Free Waters of the Arctic Ocean."
T. Waseda, A. Webb, K. Sato, J. Inoue, A. Kohout, B. Penrose, and S. Penrose; Scientific Reports, 8(4489):1-9. [bib] [http]
2018 "A three-dimensional numerical study of river plume mixing processes in Otsuchi Bay, Japan."
K. Sasmal, E. Masunaga, A. Webb, O. Fringer, E. Gross, M. Rayson, and H. Yamazaki; Journal of Oceanography, 74(2):169-186. [bib] [http]
2017 "Statistical Models of Global Langmuir Mixing."
Q. Li, B. Fox-Kemper, Ø. Breivik, and A. Webb; Ocean Modeling, 113:95-114. [bib] [http]
2016 "Langmuir mixing effects on global climate: WAVEWATCH III in CESM."
Q. Li, A. Webb, B. Fox-Kemper, A. Craig, G. Danabasoglu, W.G. Large, and M. Vertenstein; Ocean Modeling, 103: 145-160. [bib] [http]
2015 "Symmetric and Geostrophic Instabilities in the Wave-Forced Ocean Mixed Layer."
S. Haney, B. Fox-Kemper, K. Julien, and A. Webb; Journal of Physical Oceanography, 45(12):3033-3056. [bib] [http]
2015 "Impacts of wave spreading and multidirectional waves on estimating Stokes drift."
A. Webb and B. Fox-Kemper; Ocean Modeling, 96:49-64. [bib] [http]
2011 "Wave spectral moments and Stokes drift estimation."
A. Webb and B. Fox-Kemper; Ocean Modelling 40(3):273-288. [bib] [http]

Journal Publications (J-STAGE)

2020 "Statistical prediction of storm surge height time series by convolutional neural network and its long-term projection."
Y. Araki, T. Yasuda, A. Webb, and N. Mori; Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. B2 (Coastal Engineering), 76(2):1093-1098 (in Japanese). [http]
2019 "Global Tropical Cyclone Track Detection and Analysis of the d4PDF Mega-ensemble Projection."
A. Webb, T. Shimura, and N. Mori; Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. B2 (Coastal Engineering), 75(2):1207-1212. [http]
2018 "A High-Resolution Future Wave Climate Projection for the Coastal Northwestern Atlantic."
A. Webb, T. Shimura, and N. Mori; Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. B2 (Coastal Engineering), 74(2):1345-1350. [http]
2016 "Marine energy resource assessment at reconnaissance to feasibility study stages; wave power, ocean and tidal current power, and ocean thermal power".
T. Waseda, A. Webb, K. Kiyomatsu, W. Fujimoto, Y. Miyazawa, S. Varlamov, K. Horiuchi, T. Fujiwara, T. Taniguchi, K. Matsuda, and J. Yoshikawa; Journal of the Japan Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers, 23:189-198 (in Japanese). [bib] [http]

Refereed Conference Proceedings (Selected)

2018 "Wave energy resource assessment: A comparative study for two coastal areas in Japan."
K. Sasmal, A. Webb, T. Waseda, and S. Miyajima; Advances in Renewable Energies Offshore: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore (RENEW 2018). [html]
2018 "Comparison of long-term trends of the largest waves in the ice-free Arctic waters from different reanalysis products."
T. Waseda, T. Nose, and A. Webb; ASME 2018 37th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, Vol. 3: Structures, Safety, and Reliability. [html]
2017 "Arctic Wave Observation by Drifting Type Wave Buoys in 2016."
T. Waseda, A. Webb, K. Sato, J. Inoue, A. Kohout, B. Penrose, and S. Penrose; The 27th International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference, International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers. [html]
2016 "A High-Resolution, Wave and Current Resource Assessment of Japan: the Web GIS Dataset."
A. Webb, T. Waseda, W. Fujimoto, K. Horiuchi, K. Kiyomatsu, K. Matsuda, Y. Miyazawa, S. Varlamov, and J. Yoshikawa; Proceedings of the 3rd Asian Wave and Tidal Energy Conference. [bib] [pdf]

Other Writings

2018 "Report of the 2018 Meeting for the WCRP-JCOMM Coordinated Ocean Wave Climate Project (COWCLIP), Paris, 21-23 May, 2018."
M. Hemer, X.L. Wang, and A. Webb; JCOMM Technical Report 92. [html]
2017 "WAVEWATCH III in CESM and Langmuir mixing."
Q. Li, B. Fox-Kemper, and A. Webb; POP2 Reference Manual Addendum, LANL Tech Note LAUR- 10-018253, in press. [pdf]
2013 "Stokes Drift and Meshless Wave Modeling."
A. Webb; PhD thesis, University of Colorado Boulder. [bib] [pdf]

Teaching

Most recent courses and programs are listed below.

Tokyo Institute of Technology
2022 Spring, Fundamentals of Mechanics
2022 Fall, Fundamentals of Electromagnetism (upcoming)

Contact Details

Tokyo Institute of Technology
School of Science, Department of Physics, H-63
2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan