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Steve Stanne of NYS DEC's Hudson River Estuary program provides a simple analysis of the storm surge that caused so much damage in the New York metro area and along the Hudson River. He developed it with middle and high schoolers in mind, but adds that “with suitable explanation, 4th and 5th graders might get something out of it.”
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NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Seeing Sandy’s Impacts with Remote Sensors
MODIS satellite view of Hurricane Sandy at 2:20 pm EDT
Monday, October 29, 2012. Image credit: NASA.
Prepared by Steve Stanne, Hudson River Estuary Program, in partnership with the NYS Water Resources Institute, Cornell University
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Storm surge and wind were responsible for most of the damage caused by
Sandy around New York City and in the Hudson Valley. This presentation
analyzes what happened using information from instruments on the water that
send their data to the World Wide Web.
South Ferry subway station, NYC, Tuesday,
October 30, 2012. Image credit: MTA
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
This graph shows water levels at the Battery, Manhattan’s southern tip, during the week before Sandy hit.
The ups and downs are high and low tides; zero is the average level of the lowest low tides. The blue line
shows predicted tides – the red line, actual tides. The green line gives the difference between the two,
caused by weather or other factors. There was little difference between predicted and actual tides in this
time period.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
This graph shows water levels at the Battery as Sandy approached and hit. The green line - the difference
between predicted and actual levels - shows storm surge due to Sandy. How high was it? The red line
shows actual levels, combining high tide and storm surge. This is called the storm tide. How high was the
storm tide? When did maximum flooding occur?
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
The Hudson River is an estuary from New York Harbor north past Albany to Troy,
153 miles from the Battery. Tides affect the river all the way to Troy. Do you think that
Sandy’s storm surge influenced water levels at Albany, 145 miles north of the
Battery?
Port of Albany
Albany
The Battery
Troy
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
This graph shows water levels at Albany as Sandy moved in. Did its storm surge have an impact in Albany?
Was there a storm tide? If so, how high did it get? Did it happen at the same time as the storm tide at the
Battery?
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Storm surge is caused by strong
winds and low atmospheric
pressure over the ocean. To
cause the highest storm surge
in New York Harbor, what
direction would winds blow
from?
a) North to East (0-90 compass
degrees)?
b) East to South (90-180
compass degrees)?
c) South to West (180-270
compass degrees)?
d) West to North (270-360
compass degrees)?
To check your answer, let’s look
at data from NOAA buoy 44065
near the entrance to New York
Harbor.
NOAA Buoy 44065
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
As Sandy closed in on Monday afternoon, Oct.29, wind direction rapidly shifted from northeast at 1400
Eastern Daylight Time (2 PM) to southeast. (click) Wind speed reached 47 knots (54 miles per hour)
around 2000 (8 PM) with gusts (click) to 60 knots (69 mph). This piled water into New York Harbor, causing
a record storm tide at the Battery just before 9 PM.
1400
(2
PM
)
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
The record storm tide devastated low-lying areas along the waterfronts of New York and New Jersey
and rolled on up the Hudson, causing severe damage there too.
Water fills the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel , NYC,
Tuesday, October 30, 2012. Image credit: MTA
Damaged boats at a Hudson River marina,
Wednesday, October 31, 2012.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Thankfully, storms like Sandy don’t come along very often. Next time a nor’easter, hurricane, or other
storm impacts the Hudson, New York Harbor, or nearby coastal waters, visit these websites to see
what’s going on. In fact, click on these URLs now or any time to check out conditions on the water.
1. NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) tide gauge at the Battery, New York
City: http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/geo.shtml?location=8518750
In the Products column, click on Preliminary Water Level to see graph.2. NOAA data buoy 44065 in the Atlantic Ocean at New York Harbor entrance:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44065
Scroll down the page to view or graph conditions.3. US Geological Survey Hudson River gages (Albany, Poughkeepsie, links to others):
http://ny.water.usgs.gov/projects/dialer_plots/saltfront.html 4. HRECOS (Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System) network:
http://www.hrecos.org/joomla/
Click on Current Conditions to choose sites and parameters and create graphs.Questions? Contact Steve Stanne, Estuary Education Coordinator for the Hudson
River Estuary Program at [email protected]
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Slide # Question Answer
4 Storm surge height at Battery?
9 feet
4 Storm tide height at Battery?
14 feet
4 Time of maximum flooding?
Between 8 and 9 PM on Oct.29 @Battery
5 Sandy impact Albany? Yes
6 Storm surge in Albany? Yes
6 Storm tide in Albany? Yes
6 Storm tide height at Albany?
About 11 feet 4 inches
6 Same time at Battery and Albany?
No; between 4 and 5 AM on Oct.30 @Albany)
7 Storm surge winds blow from?
b) East to South (90-180 compass degrees)
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