Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

How Unusual Is Tropical Storm Irene? A Case Study Of Storm Deposition In Littleville Lake, Huntington, Ma, Catherine Dunn

Honors Papers

Tropical Storm Irene hit the northeastern United States in August 2011 with impressive rates of precipitation and river discharge. However, it was the combination of this heavy rain with high antecedent soil moisture that made Irene so unusual. The Connecticut River had a particularly high sediment yield after the storm, with a sediment concentration over 1,000 mg/L at the mouth of the river. Littleville Lake on the Westfield River was selected as a study site because of its flood control feature, which allows for the calculation of trapping efficiency in dammed rivers. Coring in the lake showed that there was …