Quantifying Extreme Weather Event Impacts on the Northern Gulf Coast Using Landsat Imagery

Abstract

ABSTRACT Jones, R., 2015. Quantifying extreme weather event impacts on the northern Gulf Coast using Landsat imagery. Recent high-profile hurricanes have demonstrated the destructiveness of extreme events on coastal landscapes to the world. Barrier islands across the planet are disappearing, exposing vulnerable coastal cities to the damage caused by extreme events. Growing resolve among scientists regarding climate change's connection to tropical cyclones heightens the concern around intensifying extremes and landscape dynamics. This study uses more than 600 Landsat images to examine the role of extreme events on barrier island morphology on three of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands from 1972 to 2013. Each island, West Ship Island (WSI), East Ship Island (ESI), and Petit Bois Island (PBI), was measured for area in hectares 14 times per year on average with higher temporal resolution before and after hurricanes, allowing for a high-resolution statistical history of surface area change and the quanti...