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A Data-Driven Storm Surge Analysis For The U.S. Gulf Coast, Harold Francis Needham Jan 2014

A Data-Driven Storm Surge Analysis For The U.S. Gulf Coast, Harold Francis Needham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation provides the first empirical storm surge analysis for the U.S. Gulf Coast. Data are provided by SURGEDAT, a comprehensive storm surge database. A global storm surge literature review provided more than 700 observations in six ocean basins. The most severe storm surges have occurred in the Bay of Bengal, and the most frequent low-magnitude surges have occurred in East Asia. The U.S. Gulf Coast experiences the second highest frequency of low- and high- magnitude storm surges. Two Gulf Coast studies revealed that storm surge heights correlate better with pre-landfall tropical cyclone conditions, such as maximum wind speed and …


Modeling The Effect Of Gusty Hurricane Wind Force On Vehicles Using The Lsu Driving Simulator, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Jan 2014

Modeling The Effect Of Gusty Hurricane Wind Force On Vehicles Using The Lsu Driving Simulator, Jose Manuel Rodriguez

LSU Master's Theses

While traffic planning is important for developing a hurricane evacuation plan, vehicle performance on the roads during extreme weather conditions is critical to the success of the planning process. This study was designed to lay a foundation for modeling driving behavior and vehicle performance as an assessment tool in the decision making process for planning evacuation routes during hurricane and tropical storms. The study explores how the parameters of a driving simulator could be modified to reproduce wind loadings experienced by three vehicle types (a passenger car, an ambulance, and a bus) during gusty hurricane winds, through manipulation of appropriate …


Quantifying The Impact Of Hurricanes, Mid-Latitude Cyclones And Other Weather And Climate Extreme Events On The Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands Using Remotely Sensed Data, Rebekah Danielle Jones Jan 2014

Quantifying The Impact Of Hurricanes, Mid-Latitude Cyclones And Other Weather And Climate Extreme Events On The Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands Using Remotely Sensed Data, Rebekah Danielle Jones

LSU Master's Theses

Recent high-profile hurricanes have demonstrated the destructiveness of extreme events on coastal landscapes to the world. Barrier islands across the planet are disappearing, exposing vulnerable coastal cities to the damage caused by extreme events. Growing resolve among scientists regarding climate change's connection to tropical cyclones heightens the concern around intensifying extremes and landscape dynamics. This study uses more than 600 Landsat images to examine the role of extreme events on barrier island morphology on four of the Mississippi-Alabama barrier islands from 1972-2014. Each island, West Ship Island (WSI), East Ship Island (WSI), Petit Bois Island (PBI), and Sand Island, was …


Hurricane-Induced Geologic Change And Palynological Assessment Of A Rapidly Subsiding Deltaic Environment In Coastal Louisiana, James Dustin Naquin Jan 2014

Hurricane-Induced Geologic Change And Palynological Assessment Of A Rapidly Subsiding Deltaic Environment In Coastal Louisiana, James Dustin Naquin

LSU Master's Theses

This study is focused on a paleoenvironmental history of a backbarrier coastal lagoon situated on the seaward margin of the Lafourche delta lobe in coastal Louisiana. A 2.2 meter long sediment core (Core BC 53) was collected from a mangrove-covered land strip on the northern margin of Bay Champagne, and was studied using pollen analysis, Loss-on-ignition (LOI), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis, and Cesium-137 and radiocarbon dating techniques to establish sediment stratigraphy and core chronology. Bay Champagne, a backbarrier lagoon formed during the evolution of Bayou Lafourche, has shown to be highly sensitive to geomorphological and vegetation changes induced by sea-level …


A Factor Analysis Of The Dimensions Of Economic Damages From Tropical Storms And Hurricanes In Louisiana, James Luke Boutwell Jan 2014

A Factor Analysis Of The Dimensions Of Economic Damages From Tropical Storms And Hurricanes In Louisiana, James Luke Boutwell

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal communities are highly sensitive to disturbances from tropical storms and hurricanes. This is particularly true in Louisiana and along the U.S. Gulf Coast where economies are largely dependent on tourism and natural resource based industry. Since Hurricane Katrina and, more recently, Hurricane Sandy, there has been an increase in concern for how coastal communities will mitigate and respond to the impacts of coastal storms. These concerns are made more acute by the increasing population concentrated along the coast and the risk of more frequent and more severe coastal storms in the future. A commonly advocated-for method of storm damage …