Tuesday, September 30, 2014

October King Tide Brings Trove Of Data For Sea-Level Threat In Miami Beach

A group of Florida International University students are ready to record data for this October's King Tide in Miami Beach. It is thought to be a harbinger of things to come as sea levels rise over the coming years. Click title for link.
Saad Masud, a 15-year-old sophomore at MAST, believes it’s important work.
“If we can understand how the effects of this huge tide is going to be, we’ll be able to better enhance our drainage systems,” he says.
All that data, along with helium-balloon images of the coastline during the King Tide, will be studied to refine estimates of how degrees of sea-level rise will make life difficult or even impossible in coming years. Faculty advisor Robert Gutsche says it may provide some necessary answers.
“Here’s how we are going to build in the future," Gutsche says. "Here’s who’s going to be able to live here in the future. Here’s what our big problem is.”