T259 Techniques for Measuring Shoreline Change (Digital Posters)

Wednesday, 12 October 2011
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Hall C

THE NATIONAL STORM SURGE DATABASE: PUBLIC ACCESS THROUGH THE STORM SURGE VIEWER AND MOBILE APPLICATION

Paper number: T259-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

The Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University is using relational tools and geographic information systems to build a national storm surge database. This project will provide one central location for coastal scientists, engineers and managers to access storm surge and high water mark data (HWM) for the purposes of planning, research, and model validation. Thus far, over 1,700 storm surge and HWM data points have been processed from the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. This includes data from 26 hurricanes that have hit the eastern US within the past 65 years. Each storm surge or HWM data point contains attributes including elevation, latitude/longitude, quality and collector. Detailed, georeferenced storm characteristics from NOAA’s IBTrACS (International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship) are also part of the database, and include storm track, wind speed, central pressure, storm diameter, track straightness and storm impact angle.

An additional focus of this project is distributing this storm surge information to the “non-scientist” public. Both a user-friendly website and mobile application have been developed from the database. Creating these two features will allow the public to access the most pertinent data from an otherwise complicated and extensive database. This could be a vital tool for educating coastal residents, emergency planners, and developers about past storm surge flood level, and hopefully, will allow individuals to make more informed decisions when purchasing coastal property and planning for hurricane preparedness.

The website, called ‘Storm Surge Viewer,’ uses Google Maps to search, filter and view storm surge and water mark data using a simple location search. The user enters an address and radius of interest and storm surge data contained within that area is available to view. Data can then be filtered by hurricane and the user can choose to view surge flood data and/or the hurricane path. Each data point contains metadata including hurricane name, year, county and elevation of flooding. The mobile application has similar features to the website but uses the global positioning system of a smart phone to locate nearby storm surge measurements.