Remote Sensing of Coastal Hazards
With the coastal population increasing, storms have been inflicting unprecedented losses on coastal communities. Coastal agencies require advance information on the predicted path, intensity and progress of a storm and associated waves and storm surges; n
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Remote Sensing of Coastal Hazards Victor V. Klemas
Abstract With the coastal population increasing, storms have been inflicting unprecedented losses on coastal communities. Coastal agencies require advance information on the predicted path, intensity and progress of a storm and associated waves and storm surges; near-real-time information during the peak of the storm to monitor flooding and control rescue operations; and post-storm reports to assess the damage and plan the recovery. The same holds true for other disasters, such as oil spills and algal blooms. Coastal communities are also facing a rising sea level, caused mainly by global warming. Airborne and satellite remote sensors, such as multispectral imagers, Lidar and radar, are now able to provide most of the information required for emergency response and coastal management.
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Introduction
More than half of the U.S. population lives in the coastal zone. With events such as the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, annual losses to coastal communities can total billions of dollars. Environmental impacts from coastal storms include beach erosion, wetland destruction, excessive nutrient loading, algal blooms, hypoxia and anoxia, fish kills, large scale releases of pollutants and debris, and spread of pathogens. Over the long term, coastal communities are also facing a rising sea level. The sea level is rising because water expands as it is warmed and because water from melting glaciers and ice sheets is added to the oceans. The substantial sea level rise and more frequent storms predicted for the next 50–100 years will affect coastal towns and roads, coastal economic development, beach erosion control strategies,
V.V. Klemas (*) School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA e-mail: [email protected] C.W. Finkl (ed.), Coastal Hazards, Coastal Research Library 6, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5234-4_2, # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
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salinity of estuaries and aquifers, coastal drainage and sewage systems, and coastal wetlands and coral reefs (Gesch 2009; IPCC 2007; NOAA 1999). Because the coastal population continues to increase and road improvements have not kept up with this rapid population growth, more time is needed to carry out an evacuation. As a result, coastal and emergency managers need advance information on the predicted path, intensity and progress of a storm and associated waves and storm surge, near-real-time information during the peak of the storm to monitor flooding and control rescue operations, and post-storm reports to assess the damage, plan urban recovery, restore power lines and roads, and to improve levees and drainage canals (NASA 2005; NASA/GSFC 2010). Airborne and satellite remote sensors are providing the required information together with observers in aircraft and on the ground. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, remote sensing played a major role in tracking the storm and the devastation it left behind in urban New Orleans and surrounding wetlands (Hayes 2005; Klemas
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