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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Becky Brooks

  • B.Sc. (University of Victoria, 2023)
Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Science

Topic

Modelling wave current interactions and coastal wave dynamics for a swell-dominated environment

School of Earth and Ocean Sciences

Date & location

  • Thursday, November 5, 2026
  • 9:00 A.M.
  • Clearihue Building, Room B007

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. Johannes Gemmrich, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria (Co-Supervisor)
  • Dr. Jody Klymak, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, UVic (Co-Supervisor)
  • Dr. Adam Monahan, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, UVic (Member)

External Examiner

  • Dr. Mercè Casas-Prat, Research Scientist, Environment and Climate Change Canada

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Jon Willis, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UVic

Abstract

Currents are not consistently included in major wave forecasts around the world, despite well known evidence that they can greatly modify wave properties, potentially leading to more dangerous sea states. Wave forecast accuracy is also limited in nearshore regions, where there is insufficient resolution for nearshore processes and wave driven hazards that threaten the well-being of coastal communities. This work aims to improve forecasting in the Northeast Pacific using WAVEWATCH III® (WW3) by evaluating model performance with the individual and combined effects of currents, increased coastal resolution, and with tidally varying water levels. Including currents in WW3 resulted in greater spatial variability in simulated wave heights along the coast compared to the model run forced by winds only. Strong currents within the Juan de Fuca Strait modulated observed wave parameters driven by the semi-diurnal tide, which was only captured by the model when it was forced with currents. Nearshore, increased resolution introduced large bathymetric differences between the coarser and finer grids, largely impacting model performance in shallow water. Significant wave height differences between grids exceeded 1 m in some locations with shallow depths, and large bathymetry gradients. The overall deeper water in the coarser grid permitted more low frequency energy to propagate nearshore, leading to greater overestimates with coarser resolution. Water levels primarily controlled the presence of swell nearshore, and drove significant modulation of the wave field in shallow water driving the biggest differences between model setups with the same coastal resolution. In contrast, currents had a greater impact on high-frequency energy. Together, including currents and water levels was beneficial to coastal model performance for non-directional wave parameters. These results demonstrate that, for a swell-dominated environment with strong tidal influence, including currents and water levels into WW3 improves model performance in a region well known for tourism and marine industries, and provides an important step towards developing an accurate nearshore wave forecast.

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