Presentation: HPC User Research Symposium

News: Post-Florence Field Observations

2018/10/10 – NCSU Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
CCEE Researchers respond rapidly to Hurricane Florence

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Much of the North Carolina coast is lined with sandy beaches and dunes, which can erode during storms, allowing sand onto major roadways and floodwaters into communities. To develop predictions for this erosion and its effects on infrastructure, it was critical to collect observations shortly after the storm. A multi-disciplinary team led by Dr. Elizabeth Sciaudone traveled to Dare County to collect time-sensitive data at Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Pea Island, and Hatteras Island. Working in conjunction with the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE), the Center for Geospatial Analytics in the College of Natural Resources, and industry partner SenseFly, researchers surveyed beach and dune changes. Real-Time Kinematic GPS equipment was used to survey select cross-shore beach and dune profiles and document the extent of dune erosion and overwash (inland sand deposits), such as when NC Highway 12 becomes covered after large storms.

Wave Gauge Deployment for Hurricane Florence

On September 11-12, or about 2-3 days before Hurricane Florence’s landfall in North Carolina, our PhD student Johnathan Woodruff joined Spencer Rogers (UNC-Wilmington, NC Sea Grant) to deploy wave gauges in Wrightsville and Topsail Beaches. The following video shows a time lapse of a deployment on a pile-supported structure in North Topsail Beach:

The goal, locations, and a few pictures of the wave gauge deployment are included below.

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