For the Instructor
These student materials complement the Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.Online Only
What Makes Coastal Communities in Louisiana so Vulnerable to Flooding?
Objective:
Analyze hypothetical storm surge impacts on communities on the Louisiana coast using Google Earth and online modeling tools.
Assignment:
There are five short activities in this assessment that will help you answer the question "What Makes Coastal Communities in Louisiana so Vulnerable to Flooding?". You will:
- Use Google Earth to explore location and elevation of Isle de Jean Charles, LA.
- Plot linear distance vs. elevation to calculate the slope of this section of the Louisiana coast.
- Use a 1-D surge model to explore how the slope of the bed and the nearshore coastal land influences the height of storm surge. Source of model: (LSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering).
- Estimate storm surge heights for a community located several km from the shoreline. The example used here is Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana.
- Compare Isle de Jean Charles with a community nearby that is protected by at more than one other layer of defense (levee, natural ridge, etc.). The example community used here is Montegut, LA.
Instructions
Instructions are provided in the text of each activity.
Submitting Your Assignment
Submit your assignment using the Module 8 Lab Assignment.