USGS Scientists Provide Hurricane Earl Information
Rex Sanders
September 3, 1998
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
Contact: Jane Eggleston, je...@gissfltlh.er.usgs.gov
http://www.usgs.gov/public/press/public_affairs/press_releases/pr616m.html
USGS Scientists Provide Hurricane Earl Information
Even as Hurricane Earl played cat and mouse with the Gulf Coast states this
week, U.S. Geological Survey scientists were marshaling an Emergency
Response Team to serve the public and document the storm's effects.
The USGS Hurricane Bonnie Team was still completing its follow-up along the
Atlantic Coast, when the Hurricane Earl Team sprang into action along the
Gulf Coast through conference calls, e-mails and the Internet.
The team communicated with dozens of mappers, hydrologists, geologists and
biologists, who were prepared to give critical information to the public
and emergency and rescue personnel as well as document the actual effects
of the hurricane.
In preparation for the hurricane season, USGS mappers provided the American
Red Cross with topographic maps needed for emergencies. The maps are mainly
used by the Red Cross for analysis and damage assessment.
USGS Florida offices consulted with the staffs of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency and the Florida Division of Emergency Management on what
critical information might be needed. Because Hurricane Earl's primary
threat appeared to be from river flooding, the USGS Tallahassee Office
prepared to make flood discharge measurements and keep river and water
quality gauges operational throughout the storm. Backup crews from the
Tampa Office and Alabama were also standing by to help.
USGS hydrologists provided the public real-time surface water information
for coastal areas through the Internet. This information continues to be
available on the Internet at http://water.usgs.gov/public/realtime.html
After Hurricane Earl landed at Panama City, the USGS work was not over.
Scientists will be studying the effects of this and other hurricanes for
some time. Larger hurricanes can be devastating to coastal erosion, but
even weaker ones can affect plants and animals, especially if the
hurricanes linger in one area for a while.
USGS geologists in St. Petersburg were prepared to fly the coast had
category 2 Hurricane Earl become a category 3 or greater hurricane. Their
aerial photography documenting coast erosion from Hurricane Bonnie,
however, is already availableon the Internet at
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/bonnie/
USGS geologists are also working with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to
collect information using Airborne Topographic Mapper Lidar. This
remote-sensing instrument, employing light-based radar, is mounted to a
NOAA aircraft. The public can get information on the Internet about this
instrument and partnership program through
http://aol.wff.nasa.gov/aoltm/projects/beachmap/ and
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/ALACE/index.html
The USGS office at St. Petersburg continuously acquires and archives
satellite data for the eastern Gulf of Mexico. These images allow
scientists to see currents or any kind of upwelling caused by the storm.
USGS researchers in Lafayette, La. are using a hurricane simulation model
they developed to review past hurricanes with wind force and tracking
similar to those of Hurricane Earl. The model reconstructs the wind
profile, speed, direction and duration of hurricanes in the Gulf and
Atlantic. Researchers use this information to study the effects on marshes
and forested wetlands. Using nature's own records--tree rings--biologists
are also developing new methods to relate the effect of huricane winds and
surge on the growth and succession of coastal wetland forests of the United
States and the Caribbean.
Other biologists and geologists will also be analyzing what their field
instruments recorded at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, about 100 miles
east of where Earl made landfall, to determine the hurricane effects on
coastal marshes. What happens to marshes at this site appears related to
the water table. The marshes in some areas have been observed to swell like
a sponge, possibly in relation to changes in the water table; but a
permanent loss in elevation has also been noted after a major storm despite
measurable increases in sediment deposits.
The USGS uses numerous high tech instruments to learn about the effects of
wind and flooding on natural resources from hurricanes like Earl. They
collect information on vegetation land cover developed from Landsat
Satellite Thematic Mapper images, satellite radar images, and color
infrared aerial photography; on flooding from satellite radar images; and
on soil moisture from passive microwaves. They develop computer models to
generate coastal microtopography and to simulate the effects of hurricanes
on natural resources.
Still other USGS scientists in Gainesville, Fla., will examine the Gulf
sturgeon population and movement in the Gulf of Mexico to see if Hurricane
Earl had any effect on these fish. These anadromous fish (living in fresh
and salt water) are threatened and are of special concern to the State of
Florida. At this time of year, many sturgeon are in coastal rivers to breed
and were in the path of the hurricane.
Animated images of Hurricane Earl are available on the Internet at
http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/special/earl.html. USGS created them by animating
NASA satellite images collected at least every half hour.
As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and civilian
mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2000
organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific
information to resource managers, planners, and other customers. This
information is gathered in every state by USGS scientists to minimize the
loss of life and property from natural disasters, to contribute to the
conservation and the sound economic and physical development of the
nation's natural resources, and to enhance the quality of life by
monitoring water, biological, energy, and mineral resources.
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