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With the increase of tropical cyclone activity, coastal communities will experience growing impacts from extreme water levels and associated compound flooding. Multiple drivers contribute to total water level (TWL), including mean sea level, astronomical tides, riverine flow, storm surges, and waves. Therefore, gaining insight into future TWL variability requires a thorough understanding of how those drivers nonlinearly interact at different spatiotemporal scales. In this study, we developed a coupled coastal and wave model at sufficient spatial resolution to analyze: (i) tide–driver interactions and their nonlinear components stemming from surge, river flow, and wind-waves, and (ii) their spatiotemporal evolution across the pre-landfall, landfall, and post-landfall stages of tropical cyclones in the Chesapeake Bay, USA. Results show that tide–surge and tide–wave interactions, along with their nonlinear components, exhibit substantial annual variability, with extreme hurricanes producing abrupt and spatially distinct responses driven by low pressure anomalies in slow-moving storms and wind setup in faster systems. In contrast, tide–river interactions remain negligible except in the upper bay tributaries. A weak or neutral tide–driver interaction does not necessarily indicate a negligible nonlinear response. Rather, nonlinear interactions (NIs) generally act out of phase with their associated drivers, functioning as compensatory mechanisms that amplify or suppress TWL. These nonlinearities are transient and of high-frequency nature near the coast, but evolve into slower, more persistent fluctuations in upstream regions. As climate change reshapes coastal dynamics, a robust understanding of NIs is essential for designing effective flood protection, enhancing risk assessments, and developing informed adaptation strategies for extreme water levels.
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An Experimental Platform to Study Wind, Hydrodynamic, and Biochemical Conditions in the Littoral Zone During Extreme Coastal Storms
Tropical cyclones and other extreme coastal storms cause widespread interruption and damage to meteorological and hydrological measurement stations exactly when researchers need them most. There is a longstanding need to collect collocated and synchronized measurements in areas where storms severely damage civil/coastal infrastructure. To fill this observational gap, researchers led by author Masters developed a state-of-the-art monitoring station called a “Sentinel.” Sentinels are intended for temporary installation on the beach between the mean tidal datum and the sand dunes and are engineered to operate in and measure extreme wind, storm surge, wave, and hazardous water quality conditions. They are envisioned as a shared-use resource—a hardened IoT (Internet of Things) platform set up in the right place at the right time to study wind and wave loads, coastal erosion and morphology changes, water quality, and other processes during extreme coastal storms.
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- PAR ID:
- 10435073
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Oceanography
- ISSN:
- 1042-8275
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Hurricane Sandy, one of the largest Atlantic hurricanes on record, made landfall as an extratropical cyclone on the coast of New Jersey (29 October 2012) along a track almost perpendicular to the coast. Ten days later a northeaster caused heavy precipitation and elevated water levels along the coast. Two years of pre-storm monitoring and research in marshes of Barnegat Bay and the Delaware Estuary provided an opportunity to evaluate the impacts of Hurricane Sandy and the succeeding northeaster across the region. Peak water levels during Sandy ranged from 111 to 184 cm above the marsh surface in Barnegat Bay and 75 to 135 cm above the marsh surface in the Delaware Estuary. Despite widespread flooding and damage to coastal communities, the storm had modest and localized impacts on coastal marshes of New Jersey. Measurements made on the marsh platform illustrated localized responses to the storms including standing biomass removal, and changes in peak biomass the following summer. Marsh surface and elevation changes were variable within marshes and across the region. Localized elevation changes over the storm period were temporary and associated with subsurface processes. Over the long-term, there was no apparent impact of the 2012 storms, as elevations and regression slopes pre- and several months post-storm were not significant. Vegetation changes in the summer following the fall 2012 storms were also variable and localized within and among marshes. These results suggest that Hurricane Sandy and the succeeding northeaster did not have a widespread long-term impact on saline marshes in this region. Possible explanations are the dissipation of surge and wave energy from the barrier island in Barnegat Bay and the extreme water levels buffering the low-lying marsh surface from waves, winds, and currents, and carrying suspended loads past the short-statured marsh grasses to areas of taller vegetation and/or structure. These findings demonstrate that major storms that have substantial impacts on infrastructure and communities can have short-term localized effects on coastal marshes in the vicinity of the storm track.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2023.s1.19
