When everybody else is driving away from hurricanes, UF researchers are driving toward them.
In the final hours before Hurricane Helene made landfall last September, a team from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering raced against time to deploy storm-monitoring equipment along Florida’s west coast.
In Cedar Key, UF faculty, staff and graduate students conducted the first full deployment of a UF-developed storm-monitoring tower called a Sentinel. The 33-foot-tall device collects data on wind, storm surge, waves, and water quality before, during, and after a hurricane makes landfall. The Sentinel reports data back to researchers in real-time so that it can be used to mitigate damage.
“The Sentinels gave us important data. They survived structurally and performed exactly to our expectations,”
– Brian Phillips, Project lead and an associate professor in the Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering.
As that team was erecting the Sentinel,
another UF team was spreading out across Cedar Key, Horseshoe Beach and Suwannee to place wave gauges, water-pressure sensors and other equipment. The team also used Light Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR, systems and drones to document detailed pre-storm conditions. Phillips says that was the first time UF researchers have collocated wind and storm surge data together at the point of landfall.
“Now we can see how much wind is contributing to the surge and how the waves are affecting the wind measurements,” he says. “There is an interaction between the wind and waves, and now we have a lot more data with a better understanding. Ultimately, the data will be used to help reduce the loss of life and property during extreme wind events. The coastal detectors are just one component of UF’s comprehensive approach to understanding and mitigating the impacts of severe tropical storms. The data they gather about wind, storm surge, waves and water quality informs experiments at a National Science Foundation-funded wind laboratory on campus, where advanced simulations and experiments lead to new ways of making buildings safer.
NSF Research Impact
Estimated losses from hurricanes
Milton
Total Estimated Insured Losses: $4.3 billion
Helene
Total Estimated Insured Losses: $2.4 billion
Debbie
Total Estimated Insured Losses: $131 million