COASTAL HAZARDS @ VIRGINIA TECH
RAPID: Observations of Physical Impacts Following Hurricane Sandy
Funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. EAR 1312813)
Hurricane Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City on October 29th 2012. Sandy was classified as a Category I hurricane; however, a non-tropical weather system merged with Sandy and created a unique situation that resulted in catastrophic damage along the shores of New Jersey and New York. To this end, the record surges produced by Hurricane Sandy resulted in record damages in built and natural environments in New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy provides the unusual opportunity to observe and collect information for the purpose of comparing sedimentary deposits resulting from storms versus those originating from recent tsunamis. Such quantitative information is essential for improving statistical estimates of coastal inundation by rare events. We focus on New Jersey and New York due to the magnitude of the impact and severity of the damages. In the reconnaissance surveys, storm surge flood elevations and inundation were measured and is comparable to the type of data collected in post-tsunami surveys. This is important in designing protective infrastructure for either or both hazard types and for deciphering in the stratigraphic record whether there is a key signature for distinguishing tsunami from storm deposits. This interdisciplinary RAPID proposal also integrates quantitative descriptions of the flooding zone from an engineering and geoscientific perspective with qualitative information from governmental entities. [text modified from NSF summary]
Acknowledgements & Credits: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Background photo courtesy of Sadatsugu Tomizawa (Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
© 2016 Jennifer L. Irish & Robert Weiss. All Rights Reserved.