Investigation of historical severe storms and storm tides in the German Bight with century reanalysis data

Abstract. Century reanalysis models offer a possibility to investigate extreme events and gain further insights into their impact through numerical experiments. In this paper, we investigate whether the atmospheric data from the reanalysis models are suitable for simulating historical severe storm tides in the North Sea and whether higher storm tides could have occurred considering different tidal phases. In general, storm tides could be reproduced, and some individual ensemble members are suitable for the reconstruction of respective storm tides. However, the highest observed water level in the German Bight (southern eastern North Sea) could not be simulated with sufficient accuracy. Storms with northerly tracks show less variability in wind speed and a better agreement with the observed water level for the German Bight. The impact of two severe historical storms that peaked at low tide is investigated with shifted tides, resulting in dangerously high water levels only at Husum in the eastern German Bight.