Ocean Turbidity - Hurricanes

Hurricanes

As one would expect, the majority of these images reveal large increases in turbidity in the regions where a hurricane has made landfall. The increases are primarily due to sediments that have been resuspended from the shallow bottom regions. In areas near shore some of the signal may also be due to sediments eroded from beaches as well as from sediment laden river plumes. In some cases a post-hurricane phytoplankton bloom due to increased nutrient availability may perhaps be detectable.

The examination of the turbidity after the passing of a hurricane can have potentially many uses for coastal resource management including:

• identifying regional "hot spots" where the erosion could be expected to be most severe
• estimating the total sediment concentration that has been mobilized by the hurricane
• determining the spatial extent of the sediment mobilization
• identifying the extent and contribution of river plumes
• assessing and predicting potential ecosystem impacts

With regard to these uses, determining the regions of high turbidity will allow managers to best decide on response strategies as well as help ensure that post-hurricane resources are most effectively utilized.