Sub-Tidal Water Levels on the Coast of Florida from Tide Gauges

Florida is at a particularly high risk of flooding due to sea level rise. There is a need to understand this risk across the state. Initial studies have indicated a difference between this risk on the east coast and west coast of Florida. The 1975 - 2022 NOAA tide gauge records along the US southeast coast were used to better understand the processes of water level variation in the region. To eliminate the dominant tidal signals, the monthly averages were computed for each station. Long term mean monthly climatology were computed from the monthly averages. The residual water levels were therefore dominated by climate signals. Correlations between the monthly residuals were computed. The east coast stations generally showed high correlations between them. Similarly for the west coast stations, but the correlation between east coast and west coast stations was relatively low. Resilience planning for Florida communities should consider this difference between east coast and west coast sea level variations.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Ian Kahn, University of New Mexico (waterjonbeats@gmail.com)

Authors:

Ian Kahn, University of New Mexico  (waterjonbeats@gmail.com)

Xavier Willis, University of Georgia  (willisx@usf.edu)

Steven Meyers, University of South Florida  (smeyers@usf.edu)

Mark Luther, University of South Florida  (mluther@usf.edu)

Tylar Murray, University of South Florida  (murray.tylar@gmail.com)