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Environmental impacts and simultaneity of positive and negative storm surges on the coast of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Abstract

The Argentine shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary and its southwards adjacent maritime front are normally affected by extratropical positive and negative storm surges that affect human activities seriously. Positive surges can raise the water level in the estuary by more than 3 m over the predicted tide; thus, flooding the coastal plain where over 13 million people live and causing extensive property damage. Sometimes, there has been loss of life too. Although less populated than the coastal plain, the maritime front has many important tourist resorts and also undergoes severe beach erosion processes and loss of property owing to positive surges. Negative surges are particularly troublesome in the Rio de la Plata because they critically affect navigation safety and drinking water supply by lowering the predicted water level in an amount that sometimes reached more than 4 m. A remarkable point is that the same storm event can simultaneously give rise to a positive surge on the maritime front and a negative one in the Rio de la Plata. The environmental impacts of positive storm surges are strongly aggravated by human intervention. At the same time, sea level rise due to global climatic change has also its influence.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the PIDDEF Project No. 42/10 (Ministry of Defense, Naval Hydrographic Service) and of the I014 and 20020100100840 Science and Technological Division, University of Buenos Aires (UBACYT) Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Av. Rivadavia 1917 (C1033AAJ), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Jorge L. Pousa & Eduardo E. Kruse

  2. Laboratorio de Oceanografía Costera, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 64, No. 3, (1900), La Plata, Argentina

    Jorge L. Pousa

  3. Departamento de Oceanografía, Servicio de Hidrografía Naval, and Escuela de Ciencias del Mar, Instituto Universitario Naval, Av. Montes de Oca 2124 (C1270ABV), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Enrique E. D’Onofrio & Mónica M. E. Fiore

  4. Instituto de Geodesia y Geofísica Aplicadas, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. Las Heras 2214, (C1127AAR), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Enrique E. D’Onofrio & Mónica M. E. Fiore

  5. Cátedra de Hidrología General, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 64, No. 3, (1900), La Plata, Argentina

    Eduardo E. Kruse

Authors
  1. Jorge L. Pousa
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  2. Enrique E. D’Onofrio
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  3. Mónica M. E. Fiore
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  4. Eduardo E. Kruse
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Correspondence to Eduardo E. Kruse.

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Pousa, J.L., D’Onofrio, E.E., Fiore, M.M.E. et al. Environmental impacts and simultaneity of positive and negative storm surges on the coast of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Environ Earth Sci 68, 2325–2335 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1911-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1911-9

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