Search Results for: sandy

Investing in NOAA Ocean and Atmospheric Research

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Philip Orton

The Washington Post reported Friday that the Trump Administration is seeking huge cuts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2018 budget, including eliminating the Sea Grant Program and shaving 26% from the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research … Continue reading →

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A “new normal” or drowning by a million drops?

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Philip Orton

I was interviewed the other day on WNYC regarding flood events of the past few months — there is a concern that the three events that flooded some low-lying neighborhoods with roughly a foot of water signify a “new normal”, but … Continue reading →

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Chances of Overtopping the Proposed Staten Island Levees

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Philip Orton

I was interviewed the other day for a 5-minute radio news clip and written article by Matthew Schuerman of WNYC, on the Corps of Engineers plans for protecting Staten Island’s low-lying southeastern neighborhoods from flooding.  A big question was whether the Corps’ planning … Continue reading →

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Increasing coincident surge and rain flooding

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Philip Orton

An important study was just published in the journal Nature Climate Change, on the topic of coincident rainfall and storm surge, termed “compound flooding”.  We knew that storm surges and heavy rainfall events were both getting worse in some places, such … Continue reading →

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Coastal Flood and Wave Forecast for the Blizzard

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Philip Orton

In a prior post, I laid out the dangers of combined ice, snow and storm surge flooding.  It is a potentially catastrophic risk, as exemplified by the Blizzard of ’78 in New England.  But fortunately, it’s very rare and perhaps … Continue reading →

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Why I Am Marching for Climate

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Philip Orton

On Sunday at noon, many thousands of concerned citizens will be marching to the United Nations in Manhattan to protest the lack of progress to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions, with the 2013 rate at its fastest rate ever.  Each year, believe … Continue reading →

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Resilience Concepts Behind Living Breakwaters

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Philip Orton

I was asked by an intern at City Atlas, Travis Gonzales, to answer his well-posed questions on our winning Rebuild By Design entry, Living Breakwaters, and here is that Q&A, which I think gets addresses some important aspects of the concept. … Continue reading →

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Living Growing Breakwaters and Building Community Resilience

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Philip Orton

We had great news a few weeks ago — our team was selected as a winner of the HUD Rebuild By Design competition, and New York State is being awarded $60 million to build out our project — Living, Growing Breakwaters off … Continue reading →

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Increasing storm tides in New York Harbor, 1844–2013

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Philip Orton

We published a paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in May (paper, supporting information), and a very important yet simple result from the paper is that Stefan Talke (Portland State University) recovered historical sea level data from NY Harbor and created this great 1844-2013 … Continue reading →

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Winter Coastal Storms – a Dangerous Mix of Hazards

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Philip Orton

The winter storm hitting us right now is a reminder of how coastal flooding and winter storms can mix and bring a dangerous combination of hazards.  While the winds in this storm are substantially weaker (good news) than the Blizzard … Continue reading →

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