Department of Ocean Engineering
Information gathered during hurricanes by the Texas COAstal Storm Rapid Response team, composed of researchers from Texas A&M University at College Station and Galveston, and Rice University, could help ensure better predictions of hurricanes’ impact and potential damage.
“Our field measurements of hydrodynamics and sedimentation during and after hurricane impact allow us to improve predictive models and tools so they can be used by federal, state and local agencies to issue public notifications, allocate resources and plan appropriate responses based on expected local conditions,” says Dr. Jens Figlus.
Figlus and his team seek information to help them understand if storm impacts will erode the beach; cut or wipe out sand dunes; or produce sediment deposits requiring expensive cleanup efforts. Being better prepared for these outcomes can help improve coastal resiliency.
The researchers are specifically interested in infragravity waves, which are surface waves with long periods and low frequencies, produced by hurricanes and how they affect coastal erosion, accretion patterns and storm damage. Similar to how different frequencies of light waves from the sun can create different colors in a rainbow, water waves in certain frequency ranges hitting a coastline can have specific erosion and deposition effects.
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