NOAA GOES-13 image of Sandy at 6:02 a.m. EDT Tuesday (Oct. 30, 2012). Accessed at http://www.livescience.com/24380-hurricane-sandy-status-data.html
Hurricanes: In mud and memory E. Christa Farmer Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability Hofstra University, 143 Gittleson Hall, Hempstead, NY 11549-1140, GEOECF@hofstra.edu
A sampling of my recent work:
1. How can we identify signatures of past hurricane Hurricane-turned-extratropical-cyclone “Superstorm” in Long Island’s barrier beach island sediments? Sandy has been a major influence on my research in (“MUD”) the past few years. I have studied this storm from 2. How do coastal residents make their decision of multiple perspectives, which can be grouped in two whether to evacuate before a storm makes themes: landfall? (“MEMORY”)
1) How do we study “MUD”? Step 1: Use concrete vibrator and heavy weight to drive irrigation pipe into the sediments of the barrier beach marsh. Step 2: Use farm jack to pry pipe back out.
Step 3: Use tin snips to cut pipe in half lengthwise to reveal sediment layers.
Step 4: Analyze sediments for trace metal content, grain size, Loss on Ignition, etc.
Results published in: Bennington and Farmer, eds. (2014) Learning from the Impacts of Superstorm Sandy, Elsevier (Academic Press). ISBN: 978-0-12-801652-7.
2) What about “MEMORY”? In 2014, Hofstra University was awarded $121,286 by the Coastal Storm Awareness Program (NOAA award NA13OAR4830228, through the Connecticut Sea Grant) to fund a study which used interviews and surveys of residents of Long Beach, NY to analyze their evacuation decision-making processes. Project Principal Investigators (from left to right): E. Christa Farmer (Geol/Env/Sust), Mary Anne Trasciatti (Rhetoric), and Elisabeth Ploran (Psychology)
Some of the Hofstra undergraduate student research assistants (from left to right): Douglas Ferraiolo, Anthony Armao, Janel Mayo, Ivan Bermejo, Vanessa Fernandes, and Emily Dorward.
Project participant Lyle Chernoff takes the survey, answering questions about which storm messages would be mostly likely to cause him to consider evacuating from his home.
Results to be presented at The Psychonomic Society’s Annual Meeting in November, 2015.