Study quantifies a century of Yukon-Kuskokwim storm floods

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/article/20141001/study-quantifies-century-yukon-kuskokwim-storm-floods

Study quantifies a century of Yukon-Kuskokwim storm floods
Yereth Rosen
October 1, 2014

Powerful autumn storms have sent surges of seawater as far as 20 miles inland onto the tundra of southwestern Alaska, and such flooding is expected to become more frequent as the climate changes, according to a study published in the current issue of the journal Arctic.

The study, by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, examined the past century’s storms and the floods they created on southwestern Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The scientists used historical records dating back to 1913 and satellite imagery from the last two decades to quantify storm-caused damages.

The biggest seawater surges, they found, were in 1974, 2005 and 2011, each from storms so intense they would be expected to occur only once every 50 years.

The 2011 Bering Sea superstorm -- nicknamed “blizzicane” and “burricane” for its combination of hurricane-force winds and blowing snow -- wreaked havoc all along Alaska’s Bering Sea coast. It struck in early November, created widespread flood and wind damage and resulted in one death.