Bareroot, conventional containerized, and large potted EKOgrown® seedlings of water oak (Quercus nigra) and white oak (Q. alba) were planted on two Hurricane Katrina damaged sites in south Mississippi. After two growing seasons, white oak exhibited greater survival (61.1%) than water oak (48.8%) and greater height growth (WHO = 7.4 cm, WAO = 1.4 cm). Water oak had greater groundline diameter (GLD) growth (3.3 mm) and greater second-year height growth (WHO = 2.5 cm, WAO = 9.6 cm). Second-year development could lead to greater height growth by water oak. Bareroot seedlings outperformed other planting stocks in survival and height growth, but EKO seedlings exhibited greater GLD growth. Even though EKO seedlings had greatest GLD growth, they exhibited the least overall height growth of all planting stocks (1.9 cm). Based on seedling cost and performance in this study, planting bareroot seedlings are the most efficient method to artificially regenerate oak forests.

An estimated 39 million m3 of timber was damaged across the Southeast Forest District of Mississippi due to Hurricane Katrina. Aggregated forest plot-level biometrics was coupled with wind, topographical, and soil attributes using a GIS. Data mining through Regression Tree Analysis (RTA) was used to determine factors contributing to shear damage of pines and wind-throw damage of hardwoods. Results depict Lorey’s Mean Height (LMH) and Quadratic Mean Diameter (QMD) are important variables in determining the percentage of trees and basal area damaged for both forest classes with sustained wind speed important for wind-throw and peak wind gusts for shear. Logistic regression based on stand damage classification compared to RTA revealed LMH, stand height to diameter ratio, and sustained wind variable concurrence. Reclassification of MIFI plot damage calls based on percentage of trees damaged increased predictability of wind-throw and shear classification. This research can potentially aid emergency and forest managers for better mitigation and recovery decisions following a hurricane.

The Outer Banks are a special place at the end of land and the beginning of water, and yet, most of the houses built on these islands seem to take no notice. A drive down the beach road reveals house after house that are essentially suburban dwellings raised above flood level on piles. This project proposes that oceanfront homes should not be pale imitations of inland housing, but rather as unique as the environment in which they exist. The architect must design for the long term needs of the client and use elements dictated by the environment as integral parts of the design to create a building that is both responsive to and reflective of the condition that occurs at the water's edge. / Master of Architecture

A numerical circulation model of Tampa Bay, Florida is used to simulate the flow field and tidal residual circulation for 2001-2004. This model is used to investigate the effects of extreme events on the residual circulation of the bay. The three extreme events that are used in this study are: Hurricane Frances, Hurricane Jeanne, and an extreme winter frontal passage that occurred on December 26, 2004. Each extreme event was divided into phases that were chosen by wind peaks and times of velocity inflow and outflow. There were three phases to the hydrodynamics effect of Frances on Tampa Bay. Hurricane Jeanne and the winter frontal passage each had two phases. An important difference between the three extreme events is the duration of each; Hurricane Frances lasted approximately two and a half days, Hurricane Jeanne affected the bay area for about twenty-four hours, and the extratropical storm passed within 16 hours. Winds were six standard deviations higher than the 2004 mean (4.06 m s-1) during Hurricane Frances, and seven standard deviations higher during both Hurricane Jeanne and the extratropical storm. Water levels reached four standard deviations during Hurricane Frances and the extratropical storm, and two standard deviations during Hurricane Jeanne. The difference between these results is due to the timing of each event with the tides, whether it was in or out of phase with the tides. During phase 2 of Hurricane Frances there was a total volume inflow of m3, for an increase of 60% in bay volume. There was a total volume outflow during phase 3 of m3, a 28% decrease. During Hurricane Jeanne there was a total volume inflow of m3 (30% increase) and total volume outflow of m3 (14% decrease). The extratropical storm showed a total volume inflow of m3 (29% increase) and a total volume outflow of m3 (31% decrease). Though the increase and decrease of volume for each event was different, they all had the same affect on the bay, causing changes in the residual circulation over time scales of these extreme events.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. James O'Brien, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Meteorology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 13, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : 60-61).

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. / Directed by Gwen Hunnicutt; submitted to the Dept. of Sociology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 16, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-81).

Annually, tropical cyclones do tremendous damage and are agents of long-term coastal change. To test this idea of different tropical cyclones delivering consistent coastal change, a landform with such evolution is needed. One such landform is a spit. What contributions do tropical cyclones give toward the evolution of a spit, and do tropical cyclones give the same kinds of impacts? To determine if tropical cyclones have similar impacts, shoreline and volumetric change from four storms impacting Bolivar Peninsula are considered. Being a southwest-trended spit at a length of 33.5 kilometers, storm impacts are measured in the form of one dimensional shoreline and two dimensional volumetric change. These impacts are abstracted into shoreline change and volumetric change patterns. These patterns are identified and compared for differences between each storm and similarity among all storms. Results indicate that shoreline accretionary zones vary alongshore. Results from Hurricane Ike indicate an accretionary zone ten kilometers from the distal end. Shoreline change patterns for Hurricane Rita show an unstable accretionary zone at four kilometers from the distal end. Results for Tropical Storm Fay indicate an unstable accretionary zone that begins at the distal end and continues to the middle of the spit. In terms of similarity for shoreline change, all patterns from storms demonstrated erosion near Rollover Fish Pass. One dimensional volumetric change patterns were entirely erosive for Hurricanes Rita and Ike, and Tropical Storm Fay had by small zones of accretion near the distal portion of the spit. Tropical Storm Josephine demonstrated an accretion zone between the middle and distal portion of the spit. Results from two dimensional volumetric change patterns suggest a threshold for inland penetration. Tropical Storm Fay showed a ten to twenty meter wide pattern of erosion around five kilometers from the distal end and near the proximal end of the spit, and Hurricane Rita demonstrated a twenty meter wide pattern of erosion near the distal end. Hurricane Ike had erosive penetration of up to 200 meters around fifteen kilometers from the distal end. Results suggest that certain storms reinforce the standard spit growth model, and others work against it.

This ethnographic analysis of the social and physical effects of Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas and the consequent recovery that emerged afterward is based on 20 months of field research conducted immediately before and after the storm’s landfall. The introductory chapter locates the ethnographer just prior to the hurricane as he prepared for an unexpected evacuation. It then presents the conceptual framework for a multi-sited ethnography of “disaster culture” and introduces analytic keywords of “vulnerability,” “resilience,” “dreamworlds,” and “catastrophe.” It concludes by discussing a set of historical and contemporary socio-economic conditions in Galveston. This provides a frame of reference of both the social formations of storm experiences and the public recovery dynamics that attended with Ike’s aftermath that are discussed throughout the text. This is further supplemented with an explanation of Ike’s flooding and the geographic distribution of storm damage. Chapter two begins with an ethnographic vignette of the first townhall meeting held in Galveston after Ike. This introduces several recurrent topics of concern that were formative of disaster-culture dynamics. It then provides a literature review of the anthropology of disaster before segueing into a presentation of storm narratives. It ends with an analysis that further elaborates on the formative dynamics of Galvestonian disaster culture. Chapter three provides an analysis of the public deliberations that emerged over long-term redevelopment initiatives; particularly, the advocacy practices of a faith-based consortium; advocacy on behalf of restoring the University of Texas Medical Branch; the public Long Term Recovery Committee, and a FEMA buyout program that benefited higher income property owners on the western end of the island. The fourth chapter provides an extended case study concerning the rebuilding of 569 units of public housing that were subsequently destroyed after the hurricane. The rebuilding of public housing became the most vitriolic public issue during the course of fieldwork. The concluding chapter invokes the concepts of “dreamworlds” and “catastrophe” used by historian and philosopher Walter Benjamin to show the processual dynamics between the initial hopes for collectively strengthening Galveston through federally funded redevelopment and the increasingly negative assessments of the city’s long-term urban fortunes. / text

This paper is drawn from oral history interviews from elderly residents who survived the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. The aged faced similar challenges as their younger counterparts in the evacuation, aftermath, and rebuilding phases of the storm; however, their responses are limited by a number of factors that make the impact on their lives more intense. The majority of storm casualties in New Orleans were elderly. Those elderly who did survive the flooding experienced life-threatening physical and emotional stress. Life-altering changes, such as relocation from familiar neighborhoods to nursing homes in unfamiliar cities or a dependent life with family members, have often meant a loss of independence, a loss of community, and a loss of their sense of history. As natural storytellers, many elderly New Orleanians have important accounts to relate and oral history offers a method to preserve their narratives.