GoMOOS has worked with meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine to prototype a decision-support tool that predicts coastal storm damage. The tool uses forecasts of water level and waves to predict coastal damage near Saco, Maine. A prototype was recently adapted to Scituate, Massachusetts and is being validated with storm data from the weather service and local emergency management community. The tool is running in real-time and can be accessed here:
Coastal Flooding and Erosion Forecast
A Patriots Day retrospective from 2007 shows the tool in action for Saco, ME:
An empirical relationship exists between storm tide, waves and coastal flooding or splash-over damage which allow us to predict when flooding and splash-over events (such as beach erosion) might occur based on forecast water level (tide height) and wave height data.
When the nomgram is in motion, a real-time indicator moves through the 48 hour forecast as a series of red circles. The leading circle of the indicator represents the most recent reading, and the trailing circles are previous readings (in 1 hour increments). |
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