Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Storm Surge AtlasesPresentation, description, data

Horace H. P. Burton and Selvin DeC. Burton

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Storm Surge Atlas - Contents

Atlas contains maps of MEOWs of various

combinations of storm direction, forward

speed, and intensity for the islands of the

English-speaking Eastern Caribbean.

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Map Features

• Each map depicts maximum surge likely during the passage of a tropical cyclone of specific intensity, moving at given speed, from given direction and within a specified distance of the particular island

• Maps are colour shaded with legend indicating the range of values assigned to each colour

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Map Features

• Added to each map is a country outline obtained from the base topography/bathymetric data of the TAOS model.

• Storm surge heights above mean sea-level are shown at intervals of 0.25 m up to 2 m and at intervals of 0.5 m for higher values

• Actual water on land is obtained by subtracting the land elevation from the surge estimate

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Input Data

• Tracks and speeds - regional climatology

• Intensities - Saffir-Simpson scale

• Lateral distance - typical horizontal extent of hurricane force winds

• Radius of maximum winds - observations

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Parameters

CategoryWindSpeed

Radius of MaximumWinds

(knots) (nm) (km)

1 70 25 46

2 90 20 36

3 105 15 28

4 125 12 22

5 145 10 18

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Map scale

• The surge height represents the value over some finite distance determined by the model - 1 km

• This value is sufficiently large to be used by decision makers in planning and disaster management

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Uses

• Determine level of risk and relative vulnerability of specific areas on basis of intensity and track

• Determine vulnerability of existing facilities - important for type and urgency of actions

• Determine areas susceptible to coastal and inland flooding from storm surge

• Understanding characteristics of storm surge

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project

Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Limitations

• Cannot be uses for individual parcel analysis

• In present form cannot be used to determine directly the extent of coastal flood zone - absence of topography

• Lack of detailed coastal outline may have an affect on surge heights in smaller bays

Possible uses far outweigh limitations