Hurricane Ian Response

The first storm response of the NOPP Hurricane Coastal Impacts (NHCI) project was to Hurricane Ian, which proved to be challenging but essential to document such a large and destructive storm. With the rapid intensification and large swath of potential impacts of the storm, the land-based deployment of sensor transects was limited, but overall the deployment was successful.

Task 3B Deployment Timeline

Fri – Sep 23, 2022

• National Hurricane Center (NHC) began issuing advisories for (what would become) Hurricane Ian
• Task 3B began planning for land-based sensor deployments at piers along the Florida Gulf coast

Sat – Sep 26, 2022

• Continued monitoring storm and initiated communication with other agencies and NHCI teams

Sun – Sep 25, 2022

• Based on current forecast track and timing, Task 3B decided to deploy at:
  1. Pier 60 in Clearwater Beach, Florida
  2. M.B. Miller County Pier in Panama City Beach, Florida
• A 2-person team from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drove equipment from North Carolina to Clearwater, Florida

Map of sensor transect locations planned on Sunday, September 25 – 3 days before Hurricane Ian made landfall, and (inset) the current NHC advisory used in the decision-making process.

Mon - Sep 26, 2022

• USGS team deployed cross-shore sensor transect at Clearwater Beach, Florida, including:
  • (1) Sofar Spotter Buoy+Smart Mooring (pre-deployed by USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in 20m depth offshore of Madeira Beach, about 15 miles south)
  • (1) water level radar / Rapid Deployment Gage
  • (6) pressure sensors (8 Hz) / Wave Height Sensors
  • (1) weather station / Meteorological Sensor
• USGS team drove equipment to Panama City Beach, Florida

Tue – Sep 27, 2022

• USGS team deployed cross-shore sensor transect at Panama City Beach, Florida, including:
  • (1) Sofar Spotter Buoy+Smart Mooring (pre-deployed by Sofar in 30m depth offshore of pier)
  • (1) water level radar / Rapid Deployment Gage
  • (2) pressure sensors (8 Hz) / Wave Height Sensors
• USGS team drove to safety in Georgia, then on to home in North Carolina

Cross-shore transect of water level and wave sensors deployed at (top) Clearwater Beach, Florida on Monday, September 26 - 2 days before Hurricane Ian made landfall, and at (bottom) Panama City Beach, Florida on Tuesday, September 27 – 1 day before landfall. Radar at end-of-pier (aka Rapid Deployment Gage, blue), weather station (green) and Sofar Spotter Buoy+Smart Mooring transmitted average data in real-time, and fast-sampling pressure sensors (8 Hz, purple) recorded data internally, and all is available on the USGS Flood Event Viewer .

Wed – Sep 28, 2022

• Hurricane Ian made landfall as a strong Category 4 just north of Ft Myers, Florida

Hurricane Ian continued east and north, impacting numerous states in its path

Wed – Oct 5, 2022

• All land-based equipment retrieved from Clearwater Beach, Florida

The USGS Coastal Storm Team led a coincident and massive effort to deploy sensors ahead of Hurricane Ian, and all data can be accessed on the USGS Flood Event Viewer .

Screen shot of the USGS Flood Event Viewer showing all sensors deployed to document Hurricane Ian impacts as of Thursday, October 6, 2022.

Update by Team:
Brown
on
October 7, 2022