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. PIs will focus on New Jersey and New York due to the magnitude of the impact and severity of the damages. In the reconnaissance surveys PIs will measure flood elevations and inundations of the storm surge, which are similar data collected during tsunami reconnaissance field surveys. This is important in designing protective infrastructure for either or both and for deciphering in the stratigraphic record whether there is a key signature for distinguishing tsunami from storm deposits. This interdisciplinary RAPID proposal will also integrate quantitative descriptions of the flooding zone from an engineering and geoscientific perspective with qualitative information from governmental entities.
We can report on field observations made shortly after Hurricane Sandy’s landfall in New Jersey, USA. Our observations and supporting detailed numerical simulations show that, despite exposure to the same high surge and large waves, a long-buried relic seawall in Bay Head, dating back to 1882, significantly lessened Sandy’s destruction with respect to its adjacent southern neighbor, Mantoloking. This significant finding is of broad interest to geoscientists, engineers, social scientists, economists, planners, risk analysts, government officials, and the general public as it demonstrates the critical importance of employing multiple levels of protection to ensure future resilience of coastal communities worldwide. Furthermore, we studied the sediments brought in. While the damages were significantly different, the amount of sediment was very similar in both communities. This allows the conclusion that sediment is a function of the absolute amplitude of the storm surge and less so of the amplitude of individual storm waves. We also explored the response of the barrier islands on Long Island, NY, to Hurricane Sandy. We studied the breaches that developed during the hurricane. On the bay side, it was interesting to see that significant damages reached farther inland in the areas of the breaches. This gives very important insights of the coastal protection that barrier islands provide.
