Before you begin, print the Worksheet that you should complete and hand in on Tuesday, April 5, 2011

STOP 1

Figure 1.  Best track positions for Hurricane Lili, 21 September - 4 October 2002.

To answer question 1:

• The dates for when the hurricane occurred are listed in the caption of the map.
• The dots and connecting lines on the map indicate the hurricane's track. The numbers refer to when the hurricane was at each location. (For example: The dot labeled 30 indicates where the storm was on the 30th of September. The dot labeled 4 shows where the storm was located on the 4th day of October.)

STOP 2       

Figure 2.  A topographic profile of Raccoon Island, Louisiana (location map below) before and after Hurricane Lili.

• Use the graph to answer questions 2., 3., and 4.
• How to read this profile:
  The y-axis on this plot is Elevation in meters.
  The x-axis is Cross-Shore Position in meters. (The open Gulf is to the right.)
  The blue line shows the profile of the barrier island before the Hurricane.
  The red line shows the profile of the barrier island after the Hurricane.
  To answer question 3, use the horizontal distance between the pre- and post-Hurricane profiles at their highest elevations.

To answer question 5, click on this USGS
Scroll down to the "Impact Level" diagrams.
Use your answer to question 4. to determine the "Impact Level" of Hurricane Lili on Raccoon Island, L.A.
How to interpret these diagrams (a simplified view):
1. If there is NO dune erosion or overwash, the Impact Level = 1
2. If there is some dune erosion, but no overwash, the Impact Level = 2
3. If there is some dune erosion and overwash, the Impact Level = 3
4. If there is COMPLETE dune erosion and overwash (i.e.: the entire barrier island has been "picked up and moved" towards the shoreline), the Impact Level = 4.

STOP 3 

• To answer question 6.,the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Ocean Service (NOS)
• Click on data source Station "8761724 Grand Isle, LA" (which has been preselected).
• Enter the dates collected for Lili (at Stop 1) into the Begin Date and End Date boxes (which has been done for you).
• Click the "View Plot" button (and you will see the following plot)

• How to read this plot:
  The y-axis is Water Height in meters.
  The x-axis is Time listed by date and/or hours.
  The green line is the predicted water level, based on the tides.
  The red line is the actual water level as it is influenced by storms and other phenomena.
  To answer question 6., subtract the Predicted Water Height (Green curve) from the Actual Water Level (Red curve) on the day of maximum storm surge.
  This "separates" the hurricane-induced storm surge from the normal high tide water height.

Hint for question 7: Check out the 2002 map of Atlatic Tropical Cyclone Tracks.

STOP 4

• Click on the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) data source
• NOTE: This web site might take a few minutes to load over a modem!
• Scroll down to the Grand Isle, Lousiana data Station 940/021 (near the bottom of the list).
• Click on column Ra.
• This data set contains Years and Relative Sea Levels (in mm).
• Do a Select All and Copy the data.

• Paste the data collected into Microsoft Excel.
• The Utility can be used to plot Years on the x-axis and Relative Sea Level on the y-axis:
• (The result will be as below)

• To answer questions 8. and 9., use the above plot.
• Relative sea level from the PSMSL web site is plotted in purple.
• The rate of relative sea level rise equals the slope of the green trend line.
• Use the trend line and/or the EarthInquiry Slope Calculator 
• to calculate the long-term average rate of relative sea level rise in Grand Isle, LA.
  (If the Slope Calculator is not working, close the calculator and reopen it using the link above. Type in the Y₂,Y₁, X₂, and X₁ values again and THEN click in the "Slope" box.)
• X-axis is Years; Y-axis is Relative Sea Level (in mm)
  No plot displayed? Go Back and make sure that you pasted the PSMSL data into the box.

END

Reference URLs

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml;
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2002lili.shtml#FIG1

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/mappingchange/index.html
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/mappingchange/scale.html

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/mappingchange/scale.html
http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/usmap.html;
http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/data_retrieve.shtml
?input_code=000111111vwl&station=8761724+Grand+Isle,+LA;
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tracks/2002atl.gif

http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/psmsl_individual_stations.html;
http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/pubi/rlr.annual.data/940021.rlrdata

http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/psmsl_individual_stations.html;
http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/pubi/rlr.annual.data/940021.rlrdata;
http://www.earthinquiry.com/module5/slope.html

Hurricane quiz and information