When John Couch is certain a storm will hit Hatteras Island, he goes into action, moving merchandise in his auto parts store from bottom shelves to top ones and hauling away the most valuable items.
But at 64 years old, Mr. Couch is less and less enamoured of spending eight hours packing up his property. So his ears perked up when he learned about a new forecasting model from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association that’s intended to give a better idea of how much ocean water will overrun an area.
“Any and all information is always helpful,” says Mr. Couch, who owns the Lighthouse Service Centre and Lighthouse Auto Parts along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. “You don’t want to put up stuff unless you really have to.”
Pilot stage
The USGS is running its coastal change forecast model to predict how far a storm’s waves will push water up the beach if it will go just to the dunes, over the dunes, or even farther onto roads and property. Oceanographers are in the pilot stages of a new implementation of the model that would predict beach changes in all weather conditions. — AP
[source:TheHindu]
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