Extreme water levels, waves and coastal impacts during a severe tropical cyclone in northeastern Australia: a case study for cross-sector data sharing

Mortlock, Thomas, Metters, Daryl, Soderholm, Joshua, Maher, John, Lee, Serena B., Boughton, Geoffrey, Stewart, Nigel, Zavadil, Elisa, and Goodwin, Ian D. (2018) Extreme water levels, waves and coastal impacts during a severe tropical cyclone in northeastern Australia: a case study for cross-sector data sharing. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 18 (9). pp. 2603-2623.

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Abstract

Severe tropical cyclone (TC) Debbie made landfall on the northern Queensland coast of Australia on 27 March 2017 after crossing the Great Barrier Reef as a slow-moving Category 4 system. Groups from industry, government and academia collected coastal hazard and impact data before, during and after the event and shared these data to produce a holistic picture of TC Debbie at the coast. Results showed the still water level exceeded the highest astronomical tide by almost a metre. Waves added a further 16 % to water levels along the open coast, and were probably unprecedented for this area since monitoring began. In most places, coastal barriers were not breached and as a result there was net offshore sand transport. If landfall had occurred 2 h earlier with the high tide, widespread inundation and overwash would have ensued. This paper provides a case study of effective cross-sector data sharing in a natural hazard context. It advocates for a shared information platform for coastal extremes in Australia to help improve the understanding and prediction of TC-related coastal hazards in the future.

Item ID: 55826
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1684-9981
Copyright Information: © Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Funders: Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works
Date Deposited: 10 Oct 2018 08:51
FoR Codes: 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3709 Physical geography and environmental geoscience > 370903 Natural hazards @ 33%
37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3708 Oceanography > 370803 Physical oceanography @ 33%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 34%
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