Storm Surges in New York During Hurricane Sandy in 2012: A Verification of the Wind-Stress Tide Relation

Abstract

In October 2012 Hurricane Sandy devastated New York City and its vicinity caused mainly by the storm surge, which is the water height above normal astronomical tide level. The meteorological conditions were as follows: minimum central pressure, 962 hPa, highest sustained wind speed 27.1 m s$^{-1}$ and maximum gust 37.8 m s$^{-1}$. The peak storm surge was at 3.9 m and the peak storm tide at 4.4 m (which is referenced above mean lower low water). The wind-stress tide relation shows that $S=K\,V^{2}$, where $S$ is the storm surge, $V$ is the wind speed and $K$ is the coefficient. It is found that with $S$ in units of m, and $V$ in  m s$^{-1}$, $K = 0.0051$ with $R^{2}= 0.91$ ($R$ is the correlation coefficient) indicating that 91 % of the total variation of the storm surge can be explained by variations in the wind stress, which is proportional to $V^{2}$. Similar results were obtained during Hurricane Irene in 2011, which also affected the New York area. Therefore, this simple wind stress-tide relation should be useful in coastal engineering, urban planning, and emergency management.