After tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico make landfall, scientists at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center are poised for many kinds of assessments, from aerial damage reconnaissance to recovery patterns of habitats, in an effort to understand how storms affect coastal wetlands. New studies are addressing how catastrophic events can increase the spread of already troublesome invasive species such as the cactus moth, cogongrass, and channeled applesnail. Historical studies include geographic information system (GIS) mapping of habitats, ecological studies of vegetation and soils, effects of flooding on coastal forests, and effects of storm damage on habitat for birds and other animals.
Topics vary from flooding and water quality to landscape and ecosystem impacts, from geotechnical reconnaissance to analyzing the collapse of bridges and estimating the volume of debris.
The purpose of this report is to inform the American people of the USGS science that is available and ongoing in regard to hurricanes. It is the hope that such science will help inform the decisions of those citizens and officials tasked with coastal restoration and planning for future hurricanes.
Hurricane and Cyclone Current News
ScienceDaily: Hurricane and Cyclone News Hurricane News and Research. Read current events articles on hurricanes, hurricanes and global warming, the effect of La Nina on the 2006 hurricane season and more.
Green Homes That Withstand Hurricanes Under Development Home foundations and frames built of a lightweight composite material that may bend - but won’t break - in a hurricane and can simply float on the rising tide of a storm’s coastal surge? Sounds too Sci-Fi? Maybe like something from the distant future? ( Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST )
Weather Forecasting: Mathematical Model Illuminates Polar Lows Scientists have developed a mathematical method that enables a reconstruction of the occurrence of small-scale polar storms -- so-called polar lows -- in the North Atlantic. ( Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:00:00 EST )
United States Death Map Revealed A map of natural hazard mortality in the United States has been produced. The map gives a county-level representation of the likelihood of dying as the result of natural events such as floods, earthquakes or extreme weather. ( Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:00:00 EST )
Storm Pulse
Stormpulse event tracking overlays the location of Gulf of Mexico storms on NASA base imagery. Data include historical tracks, forecast models, wind probabilities, cloud cover, wind fields, buoys, current center location, wind speed, pressure, and movement.
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