Collaborative Research: Tsunami and Tropical Storm Sediment Dynamics and Products

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Tsunamis and tropical cyclones pose a serious hazard to coastal communities. Quantifying this hazard is challenging in part because instrumental and historical datasets are too short to capture the extreme range of flood conditions possible at any particular location. Deposits from tsunamis and tropical cyclones, preserved within coastal sediments, provide a means to extend these records. However, there is significant uncertainty related to the movement of sediment during tsunamis and tropical cyclones, which hinders the interpretation of these event deposits. To gain insight in sediment transport during tsunamis and tropical cyclones, computational modeling, informed by the properties of modern and paleo sedimentary deposits, will be performed. One assumption is that similarities exist in flow and transport processes between tsunamis and tropical cyclones; therefore, much can be learned from studying the two phenomena in tandem. Another assumption is that natural patterns exist in tsunami and tropical cyclone deposits such that correlations between deposit properties and their causative event can be obtained with advanced statistical methods coupled to computational modeling. The study will advance understanding of sediment transport during tsunamis and tropical cyclones and will improve the capability to predict the impact of future tsunami and tropical cyclones with more certainty, resulting in more resilient coastal planning, potentially saving lives and protecting livelihoods.