Storm surge prediction and frequency analysis for Andhra coast of India

Storm surges associated with severe cyclonic storms are common occurrences along the east coast of India. The coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh have experienced major surges in the past. Storm surges and the rains associated with cyclones are major causes for coastal flooding in this region. An attempt has been made, in this paper, to simulate surges along the Andhra coast that would have occurred due to severe cyclones during 1891-1996. Inland inundation due to surges is also estimated by using an empirical formula. The computed results are validated with the available observations. The comparison using post-storm survey reports, appears reasonably good to assert that the model is capable of predicting the peak surge amplitude and its location. Frequency of occurrence relationships is obtained for various zones along the coastal region for the purpose of risk analysis.

Paleotsunamis from the central Kuril Islands segment of the Japan-Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone

Paleotsunami records from the central Kuril Island segment of the Japan-Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone indicate that the region has been frequently inundated by tsunamis. As many as 20e22 tsunami deposits are recognized on Matua Island for the past 3300 yr with an average tsunami recurrence interval of ~150 yr, and 34e36 tsunami deposits are evident on Simushir Island for the past 2350 yr with an average recurrence of ~65 yr. These intervals are short, but comparable to other segments of the Japan-Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone. Results from all survey locations reveal shortening recurrence intervals toward the present, especially for the last 600 yr, indicating a possible preservation bias. On Simushir, tsunamis at least 11 m higher than the modern tsunamis in 2006 and 2007 occurred every ~300 yr on average. On Matua, tsunamis with slightly farther inundation than the 2006 and 2007 tsunamis occurred every ~215 yr while those with at least 100 m farther inland inundation occur every ~750 yr. Our paleotsunami record almost certainly includes tsunamis that are not from great subduction zone earthquakes in the central Kuril segment: we expect the Matua record includes volcanic tsunamis and the Simushir record includes tsunamis from the southern Kuril segment.

Analysis of Stormwater Management Systems: Sustainable Approaches for Wuhan, China

<p>With the rapid pace of urbanization and drastic transformation of economic form, Wuhan, a central city of China is facing serious inland inundation problems in recent decades. This study intends to alleviate Wuhan’s storm water management problems in a sustainable way and give suggestions as to the improvement of residential area storm water management and lakeside wetland protection. Based on the data provided by Geographical Information System, analysis is done to the land form of the whole city and the change of its lake areas, which evidently demonstrates the influences of economic development on the natural environment of the city and reveals the causes of the inundation problems. Taking the population growth, land use and climate change into consideration, this research argues that strategies such as green roof fostering, neighbor-hood water reuse and wetland conservation can make a difference in stormwater drainage and prevention of inland inundation in Wuhan.</p>

Global trend analysis of the MODIS drought severity index

Recently, Mu et al. (2013) have compiled an open access data base of a remotely sensed global drought severity index (DSI) based on MODIS satellite measurements covering a continuous period of 12 years. The highest spatial resolution is 0.05° × 0.05° in the geographic band between 60° S and 80° N latitudes (more than 4.9 million locations over land). Here we present a global trend analysis of these satellite based DSI time series in order to identify geographic areas where either positive or negative trends are statistically significant. Since a DSI value conveys local characterisation at a given site, we argue that usual field significance tests cannot provide more information about the observations than the presented analysis. We are fully aware of the fact that 12 years are too short for establishing any link to global climate change, however a series of severe droughts or inland inundation on a scale of a decade might have devastating consequences for affected human communities.