In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the eastern seaboard of the United States, affecting the coastline from North Carolina to New York and Massachusetts. In addition to causing more than 200 human fatalities, the storm altered coastal landscapes, geology, hydrology, environmental quality, and ecosystems. Damage to infrastructure from Hurricane Sandy totaled over $75 billion, making it the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
As a leader in coastal processes research, specifically, coastal change due to storms, the CMHRP responded to Hurricane Sandy by documenting these changes and by developing predictive models and assessments of estuarine and wetland vulnerability. These efforts included data collection, remote-sensing analysis, and modeling of the hydrodynamic, geologic, and morphologic properties before and after this storm event.
Explore the CMHRP Decadal Strategic Plan geonarrative
The CMHRP Decadal Science Strategy 2020-2030
This geonarrative constitutes the Decadal Science Strategy of the USGS's Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program for 2020 to 2030.
Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
Hurricane Sandy Response - Barrier Island and Estuarine Wetland Physical Change Assessment
- Overview
In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the eastern seaboard of the United States, affecting the coastline from North Carolina to New York and Massachusetts. In addition to causing more than 200 human fatalities, the storm altered coastal landscapes, geology, hydrology, environmental quality, and ecosystems. Damage to infrastructure from Hurricane Sandy totaled over $75 billion, making it the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.USGS hydrologist Kaitlyn Colella and a Shinnecock Nation member work together gathering oyster and bed sediment samples along Long Island, New York, coast. Contaminants released and or mobilized as a result of Hurricane Sandy may be retained in bed sediments in aquatic environments and may be accumulating in exposed organisms, especially at low trophic levels (e.g., oysters) As a leader in coastal processes research, specifically, coastal change due to storms, the CMHRP responded to Hurricane Sandy by documenting these changes and by developing predictive models and assessments of estuarine and wetland vulnerability. These efforts included data collection, remote-sensing analysis, and modeling of the hydrodynamic, geologic, and morphologic properties before and after this storm event.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Numerical models (the depth distributions used in the model for Barnegat Bay) were used to predict sediment transport and deposition associated with the storm. - Science
Explore the CMHRP Decadal Strategic Plan geonarrative
The CMHRP Decadal Science Strategy 2020-2030
This geonarrative constitutes the Decadal Science Strategy of the USGS's Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program for 2020 to 2030.
Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
Estuarine processes, hazards, and ecosystems describes several interdisciplinary projects that aim to quantify and understand estuarine processes through observations and numerical modeling. Both the spatial and temporal scales of these mechanisms are important, and therefore require modern instrumentation and state-of-the-art hydrodynamic models. These projects are led from the U.S. Geological...Hurricane Sandy Response - Barrier Island and Estuarine Wetland Physical Change Assessment
This project integrated a wetland assessment with existing coastal-change hazard assessments for the adjacent dunes and beaches of Assateague Island, Maryland, to create a more comprehensive coastal vulnerability assessment.