On Jan. 13, 2021, John Callahan, associate scientist at the Delaware Geological Survey, presented at the 101st American Meteorological Society (AMS) 2021 annual meeting, the world’s largest yearly gathering for the weather, water and climate community.
It has been widely documented that Delaware is highly vulnerable to the impacts of coastal flooding along its Delaware Bay, Atlantic Ocean, and Delaware Inland Bay shores.
The Delaware Geological Survey will review recent scientific literature and assessments of sea-level change in Delaware and identify appropriate scenarios to use for planning purposes throughout the state. This project will also develop new inundation maps along Delaware's coast that correspond to the identified scenarios.
John Callahan presented on several ongoing CEOE projects that focus on the monitoring of the tides and storm surge, such as from water level tide gages and satellite imagery, as well as on past data analysis and future forecasts. The presentation also included a live demonstration of the Delaware Coastal Flood Monitoring System. The operational and research-based projects are being jointly conducted by the Delaware Geological Survey, Delaware Sea Grant, the Delaware Environmental Observing System, the Delaware Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Center and the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Delaware Coastal Programs.
This project will study the water level behavior throughout the Delaware Inland Bays, with a focus on populated areas, during times of both storm and non-storm events through analysis of observational data from tide gages. It will also support the inclusion of the Delaware Inland Bays into the Delaware CFMS by developing a statistical relationships between the water levels along the Atlantic Ocean coast near the mouth of the Inland B