SO503 Spring 2012

Coastal Flooding

Go to http://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/pguth/website/storm_surge/flooding.htm.  Look a the KML file there in Google Earth, and determine the water level at which you think the USNA columbarium starts to flood.  Insure that you include the vertical datum for this elevation.

http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/newsys-cgi-bin/ngs_opsd.prl?PID=HV0207&EPOCH=1983-2001 shows the relationship between vertical datums (including NAVD88 and MLLW) for the Annapolis tide gauge.

NOAA tide gauge data

• http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/data_menu.shtml?stn=8575512%20Annapolis,%20MD&type=Data+Inventory  shows the available data for the tide gauge at Hendrix.  We will be interested in "Ver Monthly Mean Water Level".  Get the dates this is availalbe.
• http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/data_menu.shtml?stn=8575512%20Annapolis,%20MD&type=Historic%20Tide%20Data has the data download.  Pick the dates, the interval (monthly, since otherwise we can only get a year's data at a time), and the datum, which should match the water level at which you think problems arise.
• Download the data and save it.
• There is some missing data which you might have to deal with.
• Create and graph a time series of the highest water level for each month.
• http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=8575512%20Annapolis,%20MD shows NOAA's analysis of sea level rise.  Perform a regression on your time series to see if you agree with their numbers.
• Create a table showing all times that the water would have flooded the columbarium.  You should have month, year, and maximum water level.
• Discuss two reasons why you might have missed a storm that flooded the columbarium.
• Prepare a histogram by decade showing the number of flooding events.  Does this appear to be increasing over time?