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Superstorm Sandy Winter 2013

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Superstorm Sandy Winter 2013 NEWSWAVE NEWS FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR: OCEANS, COASTS AND GREAT LAKES IN THIS EDITION: Superstorm Sandy Winter 2013 Superstorm Sandy ....................1 Interior Leadership and Expertise Support the Nation Help for Hatchlings ...................2 By Ann Tihansky-DOI 30 Years of Coastal Change ......3 Hurricane Sandy made landfall Pacific Ocean Use Atlas ............4 over New Jersey on October 29, Marine Invasive Species ..........4 2012. The hurricane brought high Japanese Dock in US ................5 winds, storm surge and coastal impacts to much of the Eastern Coral Killing Disease ................5 United States, including New York Shifting Sands ...........................6 City. Restoring the Gulf ....................7 USGS tidal sensors measured Great Lakes Agreement. ..........7 record-setting storm surge peaks Interior leaders meet at the Statue of with floodwaters completely over- Liberty during the Secretary’s tour to Risky Coastal Development .....9 topping some of the gages. inspect Hurricane Sandy’s damages. Left Tribal Youth Program .............10 to right, Statue of Liberty Superintendent The Statue of Liberty, located on David Luchsinger, NPS Director Jon Flow of Information ...............11 Liberty Island, a 12-acre island Jarvis, and Secretary Ken Salazar. Photo Ocean.Data.Gov ......................11 located a mile south of lower credit: Tami Heilemann, DOI. Manhattan, was in the direct path Gas Hydrate Research ............12 The Statue of Liberty’s 126 year-old iron of a massive storm surge. High- framework designed by Alexandre- Fish at the Top of the World ...13 water marks flagged by USGS Gustave Eiffel withstood the storm’s Public Science Festival ...........16 crews show storm surge levels intense winds, but surge and waves flooded and destroyed support facilities, Arctic Drilling Program ..........16 docks and walkways. See Superstorm Sandy page 15 News from the Regions ..........18 Tribute to Abby Sallenger ......20 Science for Emergency Managers ................................21 Dialogue on Disasters ...........22 The Surfing Bison ......................24 With the New York City skyline in the background, this dock at Liberty Island demonstrates the destructive power Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge had on the northeastern U.S. coastal region. Photo credit: Tami Heilemann, DOI. NEWSWAVE • Winter 2013 For more information Visit us online: http://www.doi.gov/pmb/ocean/index.cfm about ocean and coastal activities at DOI contact: Help for Terry Holman, Coordinator Sea Turtle DOI Ocean and Coastal Activities, Hatchlings 1849 C Street, NW, Mail Stop 3530 By Shayne Banks-BLM Washington, D.C. 20240, Telephone: 202-208-1944, The Southeastern Fax: 202-208-4867 States Field Office of [email protected] the Bureau for Land Are you interested in contribut- Management adminis- ing to NEWSWAVE? ters several small beach Visit: http://www.doi.gov/pmb/ front tracts in south ocean/news/Newswave/index.cfm Alabama where feder- Please contact Ann Tihansky with ally threatened Logger- Volunteers from “Share the Beach” move a Loggerhead any questions, comments or to head sea turtles nest. sea turtle nest inland to ensure a higher survival rate of hatchlings. Below, a Loggerhead sea turtle heads back receive NEWSWAVE via email. Because turtles lay into the sea after laying her eggs on the beach. Photo [email protected], eggs at night, locating credit: Mike Reynolds. 202-208-3342 or 813-727-0841 a sea turtle nesting spot Winter 2013 Contributors and watching a hatching is rare. Volunteers from “Share the Beach” help Ann Tihansky, Editor, DOI patrol the beaches and watch for signs of turtle nesting. Once nests are Tami Heilmann, DOI found they are flagged and monitored. Sometimes it is necessary to move Liza Johnson, DOI Seth Sykora-Bodie, DOI nests farther away from the water to ensure a more successful hatch. Shayne Banks, BLM In 2012, three Loggerhead sea turtle nests were located on BLM tracts. Bob Wick, BLM Rebecca Beavers, NPS One nest, A-39 was found on June 25, and the nest “boiled” on August Mary Foley, NPS 23. Eighty-nine babies hatched and made it to the water. This was a 98 Patricia Rafferty, NPS percent hatch rate! Loggerheads nest anytime between March and Oc- Betsy Boynton, USGS Theresa Burress, USGS tober, but mainly between June and August. Females may nest several Monique Fordham, USGS times during a season, laying between 100 to 145 soft, round white eggs Ben Gutierrez, USGS per nest. The eggs incubate in the sand for about 48 to 70 days. Hatch- Cheryl Hapke, USGS lings emerge from the nest mostly at night, running quickly toward the Heather Henkel, USGS Brian McCallum, USGS open ocean. Sea turtles can have a life span of between 30 to more than Sandra Morrison, USGS 50 years. http://www.blm.gov/es/st/en.html Nathaniel Plant, USGS Chris Polloni, USGS Jessica Robertson, USGS Gail Moede Rogall, USGS Barry Rosen, USGS Jonathan Sleeman, USGS Paul Slota, USGS Hilary Stockdon, USGS Pamela Telis, USGS Rob Thieler, USGS Thierry Work, USGS Katie Niemi, USFWS Bret Wolfe, USFWS Dana Wright, USFWS JP Zegarra, USFWS Mary Boatman, BOEM Nancy Deschu, BOEM Sara Guiltinan, BOEM David Gray, Wampanoag Tribe Terry Lilley Mike Reynolds A Loggerhead sea turtle heads back into the sea after laying her eggs on the beach. Photo credits: Mike Reynolds. 2 NEWSWAVE • Winter 2013 30 Years of Coastal Change in One Blow Coastal Change on Fire Island Provides Opportunities for Improved Understanding of Coastal Dynamics By Ann Tihansky-DOI, Cheryl Hapke-USGS, Rebecca Beavers-NPS, Mary Foley-NPS, Patricia Rafferty-NPS More than 30 years of coastal morphology data, collected as part of a long-term study at Fire Island National Seashore, put A new breach on Fire Island created by Hurricane Sandy is being monitored by an the impact of Sandy into histori- interagency research team. The breach has provided an opportunity to study coastal cal perspective. Measurements at processes to help inform management strategies. Photo credit: Rebecca Beavers, NPS. coastal profile data stations along at Fire Island National Seashore Fire Island creating a new inlet. the shoreline made both before and said, “The reports generated from Through coordinated efforts, Inte- after Hurricane Sandy recorded the this research are valuable tools for rior’s Sandy Incident Management magnitude of the powerful storm’s land managers and stakeholders to Team (IMT), the NPS Northeast impact on the beaches. “The entire consider when maintaining coastal Regional Office and Fire Island coastline along Fire Island has resources, especially in the face National Seashore science staff, basically been reconfigured. The of sea-level rise and other global USGS and Stony Brook University dunes have moved substantially climate change impacts. Studies of have been working together to col- landward. A lot of the beach has the ocean bottom and sand move- lect information that informs both eroded. And it’s very dramatic in ment along the shoreline help to in- the science and the management terms of the amount of change dur- form management decisions along strategies for coastal resources. ing the course of just one storm,” a dynamic barrier island coastline, The Breach Contingency Plan USGS Geologist Cheryl Hapke like Fire Island.” team, which includes NPS, USGS, said, “On average, the dunes at As an example, Sandy’s power- USFWS, the USACE and the State Fire Island eroded back 70 feet ful waves and surge also breached See Thirty Years page 23 - the equivalent of 30 years of change. Our data also showed that dunes lost as much as 10 feet of elevation. This rapid response data was used to help the National Park Service assess the areas of the coast that were most vulnerable to a nor’easter that impacted the coast a week after Sandy.” Impacts from Sandy also provide scientists an opportunity to moni- tor and evaluate coastal change processes to inform management strategies. Scientific information Beach profiles from location C-8 (shown on page 23) on Fire Island comparing 1969 like this can be transferred to other with those measured before and after Hurricane Sandy show the dramatic effects of coastal areas and used as part of a the storm. The dune area did not experience much change from 1969 to 2012 (before larger coastal management strat- Sandy), but changed drammatically in response to the storm. The orange stars on the egy. Chris Soller, Superintendent profiles mark locations of the 2-meter elevation contour and document that erosion from Sandy was nearly twice as much as had eroded in the previous 43 years. Graphic: USGS. 3 NEWSWAVE • Winter 2013 Collecting Expert Community Knowledge A Database to Help The Pacific Regional Ocean Uses Atlas Track Marine Invasive By Sara Guiltinan-BOEM Species By Seth Sykora-Bodie-DOI Learn more: http://www.boem.gov/uploadedFiles/PROUA-Fact-Sheet.pdf For the past several years, the Na- The Pacific Regional Ocean Uses In Oregon, the geographic scope of tional Park Service (NPS) has been Atlas Project is an interagency the project will be the OCS, and in collaboration between the Bureau Hawaii, data will be collected for partnering with the United States of Ocean Energy Management coastal waters and the OCS for the Geological Survey (USGS) and (BOEM) and NOAA designed to Main Hawaiian Islands. Mapping The Nature Conservancy (TNC) document where coastal commu- workshops in Washington have to keep track of marine invasive nities use the ocean across a full been scheduled for April 2013 and species within National
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