In the Circum-Caribbean, long timescale paleoenvironmental records, which are used to establish important baseline data for climatological phenomena such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes, are rare. This project uses geological and geochemical proxies (X-Ray fluorescence core scanning data, grain-size analysis, loss on ignition) from a nine-meter-long sediment core from a coastal karst basin near Haiti’s southwestern peninsula to reconstruct Holocene environmental and climatic changes in a region that is both understudied and highly sensitive to the effects of storms, sea level change, tectonics, and anthropogenic impacts. The chronology of the core is established with 4 AMS dates from terrestrial organic matter and shows continuous sedimentation from ~8500 cal BP to the present, with an abrupt increase in sedimentation rate at ~2900 cal BP. High values of Ti and Ti/Ca are associated with finer sediments in the core and indicate relatively humid conditions at ~6500 cal BP, followed by a gradual drying trend. This is consistent with data from elsewhere in the Caribbean that reflects a southward migration of the ITCZ during the early Holocene. After 2500 cal BP, a series of large and abrupt increases in Ti and Ti/Ca are associated with an influx of finer, terrestrially-derived sediment into the bay due to enhanced discharge from the nearby Baradères River, possibly as a result of short-duration shifts to wetter climate conditions, hurricane-induced precipitation, and/or prehistoric-era human settlement. Variations in silicate input (e.g., K/Ti), marine productivity (e.g., Ca/Ti), and redox conditions (e.g., Mn/Fe) are linked to local climate changes and resulting changes in the depositional environment, while peaks in Rb/Sr and Ti/Ca could be signals for erosion related to events such as hurricanes and/or land use changes. Finally, high values of silt and clay, in conjunction with enhanced organics, Ti, Fe, K and P over the last couple centuries reflect historic-era deforestation and erosion. This study presents an excellent opportunity to further our understanding of the diverse relationships between ecosystem dymanics, climate, and anthropogenic forcings and adds to the growing inventory of paleoclimatological records in the Caribbean, improving the spatial distribution of such studies, and ultimately improving our understanding of the driving forces of both short- and long-term climate variability.

Hurricanes have caused billions of dollars in damage to the hotel industry in Florida, significantly affecting tourism flow. The unpredictable impact of hurricanes makes sustaining profits challenging. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that hotel leaders use to sustain tourism profits following a hurricane. The theory of image restoration provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected from company documents and semistructured interviews with 5 hotel leaders in Central Florida. Transcribed data were coded then validated using member checking during the data analysis, which revealed 5 themes: storm impact, accommodations, operations, communications, and planning. Results indicated the relevance of the theory of image restoration to help hotel leaders get operations back to normal following a hurricane by using effective communication and planning. Results also indicated that when hotel leaders have an effective response strategy, the opportunity to sustain profits extends beyond tourism. Results may be used by hotel leaders to sustain profits and support their communities during hurricane recovery by providing accommodations, safety, and security to stakeholders other than tourists, such as first responders and state and local residents.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-169). / Hurricanes, powerful storms with wind speeds that can exceed 80 m/s, are one of the most destructive natural disasters known to man. While current satellite technology has made it possible to effectively detect and track hurricanes, expensive 'hurricane-hunting' aircraft are required to accurately classify their destructive power. Here we show that passive undersea acoustic techniques may provide a promising tool for accurately quantifying the destructive power of a hurricane and so may provide a safe and inexpensive alternative to aircraft-based techniques. It is well known that the crashing of wind-driven waves generates underwater noise in the 10 Hz to 10 kHz range. Theoretical and empirical evidence are combined to show that underwater acoustic sensing techniques may be valuable for measuring the wind speed and determining the destructive power of a hurricane. This is done by first developing a model for the acoustic intensity and mutual intensity in an ocean waveguide due to a hurricane and then determining the relationship between local wind speed and underwater acoustic intensity. / (cont.) Acoustic measurements of the underwater noise generated by hurricane Gert are correlated with meteorological data from reconnaissance aircraft and satellites to show that underwater noise intensity between 10 and 50 Hz is approximately proportional to the cube of the local wind speed. From this it is shown that it should be feasible to accurately measure the local wind speed and quantify the destructive power of a hurricane if its eye wall passes directly over a single underwater acoustic sensor. The potential advantages and disadvantages of the proposed acoustic method are weighed against those of currently employed techniques. It has also long been known that hurricanes generate microseisms in the 0.1 to 0.6 Hz frequency range through the non-linear interaction of ocean surface waves. Here we model microseisms generated by the spatially inhomogeneous waves of a hurricane with the non-linear wave equation where a second-order acoustic field is created by first-order ocean surface wave motion. We account for the propagation of microseismic noise through range-dependent waveguide environments from the deep ocean to a receiver on land. We compare estimates based on the ocean surface wave field measured in hurricane Bonnie with seismic measurements from Florida. / by Joshua David Wilson. / Ph.D.

A topology-based approach has been used to measure the resilience of a highway network to climatic events. Civil infrastructure systems are inarguably critical to the everyday functions of society. Because such systems are regionally distributed, their components undergo a wide range of hazard intensities, often dependent on their relative locations. The ability of an infrastructure system to withstand, adapt to, and rapidly recover from extreme events is paramount to its ability to continuously serve users. The topological properties of a network can provide a good means to assess the resilience of the system which is adequate to comprehend the preparedness and functionality of an infrastructure system in the face of various hazards. Hurricanes and storm surges are especially relevant on the eastern coast of the US, where they can cause widespread damage and destruction. Furthermore, the effects of climate change are proven to increase the intensity of climatic events, worsening the consequences to infrastructure networks. The vulnerability of the transportation network of New York City, the most populous urban area in the U.S., was underlined in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and for this purpose has been chosen as the test bed for this study. Reducing the highway system to a combination of nodes and links, the principles of graph theory are applied to quantify defining network properties. More specifically, by assessing and measuring the change in topological properties during extreme climatic events, the resilience of a transportation network can be succinctly evaluated.

This thesis uses flooding driven by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and a history of inundation in Houston, Texas to critique the systems of floodplain mapping through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The role of Geographic Information Systems becomes a subject of interest in the context of U.S governance and the role of property as a driving force in urban development. The shortcomings of existing systems of mitigation are examined through mappings that bring measures of risk, damage, and recovery into contrast with each other. Racial and economic inequality are integrated into the analysis through a deeper consideration of the NFIP as the main form of federal protection against losses. Seeing that the NFIP has not protected the true status quo of urban life, it is argued that public perceptions of risk are formed contrary to the logic of home insurance, leading to observable inequalities in preparation and recovery

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This study examines the recovery process of businesses in Homestead, Florida after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The goal of this study was to determine which organizational characteristics were useful in predicting the level of physical damage and the length of time to reopen for affected businesses. The organizational characteristics examined were age, size, pre-disaster gross sales, ownership of the business location, membership in the Chamber of Commerce, and property insurance. Three-hundred and fifty businesses in the area were surveyed. Because of the complexity of the recovery process, the disaster experiences of businesses were examined using three paradigms, organizational ecology, contingency theory, and configuration theory. Models were developed and tested for each paradigm. The models used the contextual variables to explain the outcome variables; level of physical damage and length of time to reopen. The SIC was modified so that it could form the framework for a taxonomic examination of the businesses. The organizations were examined at the level of division, class, subclass, and order. While the taxa and consistent levels of physical damage, the length of time needed to reopen varied greatly. The homogeneous level of damage within the groups is linked to similarity in assets and transformation processes. When examined using the contingency perspective, there were no significant relationships between the level of physical damage and the contextual variables. Only predisaster gross sales and level of physical damage had moderate strength associations with the length of time to reopen. The configuration perspective was applied by identifying clusters of organizations using the contextual variables. Clusters were identified and examined to determine if they had significantly different disaster experiences. The clusters varied significantly only by the length of time to reopen. The disaster experience of businesses is conceptualized as a process of accumulation-deaccumulation-reaccumulation. The level of physical damage is driven by selection while the lenght of time to reopen is determined by both adaptation and selection.

Beach nourishment provides an excellent opportunity for the study of intensified sediment transport gradients and associated morphological changes in a natural setting. The objectives of this study are to quantify and predict longshore and cross-shore transport gradients induced by 1) beach nourishment, 2) different storm wave conditions, and 3) the annual wave climate and long-term sediment supply. The details of sediment transport rates and gradients induced by gradual processes and high-energy events are analyzed on a macro-scale. Well-planned monitoring of the 2004 Upham Beach nourishment project in west-central Florida collected high-spatial and -temporal resolution field data. Three hurricanes passed by the project soon after nourishment was complete.Post-nourishment planform adjustment occurs immediately after nourishment via diffusion spit development at the end transitions. Thus, the initiation of planform adjustment may be abrupt, rather than gradual as pred icted by the typical diffusion models. Diffusion spit formation is dominant during relatively calm wave conditions on coasts with low wave heights and tidal ranges.Profile equilibration also may be an event-driven, rather than a gradual, process. Rapid profile equilibration following nourishment occurred not only due to hurricane passage, but also during a winter season. The duration between nourishment and the passage of the first high-energy event is an important factor controlling the time scale of profile equilibration.The passage of three hurricanes generated different wave conditions and induced different sediment transport directions, rates, and gradients due to their variable proximities to the project area. The direction of cross-shore transport was governed by wave steepness. Onshore sediment transport occurred during a storm event, in contrast with the concepts of gradual onshore transport during mild wave conditions and abrupt offshore transport during storm events, as cited in the literature.By formulating sediment budgets on various temporal and spatial scales, both event-driven and average transport rates and gradients can be resolved. Annual average transport rates for a region should not be arbitrarily applied to nourished beaches; rather, sediment budgets formulated with high-spatial and -temporal resolution field data should be formulated during the design phase of future nourishment projects.