Thesis (M.Sc.)--College of William and Mary. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong,1976.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1976. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, Los Angeles--Geography. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-67).

published_or_final_version / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy

The impact of Typhoon Hagupit has raised public awareness on the hazard of storm surge. The international research and local tide gauge data collected over the years, has shown the trend on sea level rise. From the tropical cyclones and storm surge database of the Hong Kong Observatory, a study on the trends of storm surge impacting Hong Kong (1960~2008) has been carried out to investigate whether significant changes of extreme sea level have taken place under climate changes. The mechanism of storm surge is described in the beginning of this dissertation, followed by clarification of the methods and data used for analysis. It was found that a significant sea level rise was recorded in both Victoria Harbor and Tai Po Kau in the past half century. However, the annual extreme sea level and maximum storm surge of Victoria Harbor had decreased at a rate of 2.6 & 4.8 mmyr-1 (1960~2008). The descending trend are much significant in Tai Po Kau tide gauge station. The trend on storm surge is generally consistent with the decline of tropical cyclones which entered the South China Sea and within the 800km range of Hong Kong. By observing the vibration of sea surface temperature anomolies as Pacific Decadal Oscilliation and El Nino Southern Oscillations, it is possibly related to the annual number of tropical cyclones and affect the chance of intense storm surge impact. The projection on the storm surge intensity at the end of this century has been done in accordance with the result of Global Climate Models in IPCC AR4. The mean sea level is projected to rise for 0.18~0.59m but some of the researchers argue that the value is too conservative. The majority of global cimate models estimate that there is no significant change in the frequency of tropical cyclones but slightly increase in their overall intensity. In using the extreme projection of climate change, the return period of severe storm surge will be significantly shortened at the end of this century. The possibility of extreme sea level, causing serious damage to low lying area in the territority, tends to increase. / published_or_final_version / Applied Geosciences / Master / Master of Science

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from PDF file main screen (viewed on July 7, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Hurricanes are among the most catastrophic types of natural hazards, with the potential to cause serious losses in lives and property. While hurricanes rarely have a huge impact on the New York City area, they do have the potential to cause major damage to the city's transportation infrastructure. This research will deal with two main considerations--fragility curves and exceedance curves of vulnerable points in that infrastructure. The primary objective of this study is to provide a model for predicting future hurricane related storm surge patterns and for estimating possible levels of damage from future events in order to develop planning strategies to mitigate against possible damage. The first step is to describe the frequency of past storm surge events in New York City from 1920 to 2012 and determine a probability distribution for hurricane hazard about the maximum daily and yearly storm surges. The second step is to estimate potential probabilistic models by looking at the empirical data on storm surges in New York City. The last step is to concentrate on the reliability assessment for several infrastructures subjected to hurricane loading and storm surges. No significant studies have been conducted using the available empirical data on storm surge heights in New York City, despite the fact that since an observation station was installed in the Battery, New York in 1920, daily and yearly maximum water levels at that location have been documented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Considering the available daily maximum sea water levels from 1920 to 2012 yields a total of 31,148 data points (2,394 days of maximum height data are unfortunately missing); 92 data points of maximum sea water levels are also available. This is the first study to utilize the nearly century's worth of empirical data obtained by the observation station at the Battery. Extensive goodness of fit testing (including the use of various probability papers) is performed on the empirical daily maximum sea water level data. It is concluded that the daily maximum sea water levels at the Battery from 1920 to 2012 follow closely a logistic distribution, with a mean value of 8.10 feet and a coefficient of variation (COV) of 9.63%. The methodology of analyzing the yearly maximum sea water levels is quite similar to that used for the daily sea water levels (and the analysis is performed independently). It is found that the yearly maximum sea water levels at the Battery from 1920 to 2012 follow closely a generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution with a mean value of 10.72 feet and a COV of 10.07%. Then, applying exact and asymptotic Extreme Value Theory, the parent GEV distribution is used to determine the probability distributions for maximum sea water levels over a range of different multi-year periods including 1, 10, 50, 100, 200, and 500 years. Finally, the total volume of flood-vulnerable infrastructure is generated and flood damage probabilities when related to the established probability distributions for sea water levels are considered. The flood vulnerabilities of different parts of the built infrastructure in New York City are studied; specifically, the subway system and the tunnel system. The concept of fragility curves is used to express these vulnerabilities. Conclusions and recommendations are provided for estimating losses probabilistically over different periods, retrofitting and strengthening the infrastructure to reduce future potential losses, and determining repair priorities. This is very useful for cost-benefit analysis.

Univ., Habil.-Schr.--Wien, 2004.

Originally presented as the author's Habilitationsschrift--Vienna. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 398-443) and indexes.