BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 3 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:
When a hurricane roars toward land, forecasters try to predict how high sea levels will rise to help coastal communities prepare for the worst impacts.
But storm surge peak isn't always the biggest problem. How fast water rises, how long it remains elevated, and how quickly it recedes all influence coastal erosion, infrastructure damage, emergency response, and recovery - and these factors can vary dramatically from storm to storm.
A team of Virginia Tech researchers recently published astudy in Coastal Engineering demonstrating that storm surge behavior follows a set of distinct, repeatable patterns that depend on both storm...