Hurricane Irma: an unprecedented event over the last 3700 years? Geomorphological changes and sedimentological record in Codrington Lagoon, Barbuda

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A90263%2F23%3A00373881" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:90263/23:00373881 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3761-2023" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3761-2023</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3761-2023" target="_blank" >10.5194/nhess-23-3761-2023</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Hurricane Irma: an unprecedented event over the last 3700 years? Geomorphological changes and sedimentological record in Codrington Lagoon, Barbuda

Original language description

Low-lying coasts and small islands, such as in the Lesser Antilles, are particularly vulnerable to hurricane-induced marine floods. In September 2017, category 5 Hurricane Irma, with winds up to 360 km h - 1 , hit the northern Caribbean islands and caused the destruction of 95 % of the structures on Barbuda Island. We investigated the geomorphological impacts and the sedimentological record related to the storm surge of this hurricane in Barbuda's Codrington Lagoon. Following Hurricane Irma, two wide inlets developed across the Codrington sandy barrier. One of these inlets was enlarged and was still open 4 years later. From available data, it seems that this barrier remained continuous for the last 250 years before Hurricane Irma. At a longer timescale, very high-resolution seismic exploration combined with sediment cores sampled in Codrington Lagoon were used to investigate Irma deposits and environmental changes for the last 3700 years. The evolution from a low-energy small and shallow lagoon to the modern wide and high-energy lagoon recorded by the lagoon sediment fill was related to both long-term sea level rise and subsidence. The top of the lagoon fill consists of a thick and extensive sand sheet recording an abrupt increase in energy. Given its location at the top of the cores and its very recent age, supported by short-lived radionuclide data, together with large inlets opening and barrier erosion after Irma that imply a large sand supply to the lagoon, this sand sheet was attributed to Hurricane Irma. From our cores, it appears that this deposit is unique over more than 3700 years. Both the opening of a new inlet and the thick upper sand sheet support the exceptional character of Irma at the scale of centuries to millennia. Our study reinforces the idea that Hurricane Irma was exceptional in terms of intensity and may be associated with global warming.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10509 - Meteorology and atmospheric sciences

Project

—

Continuities

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Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences

ISSN

1561-8633

e-ISSN

1684-9981

Volume of the periodical

23

Issue of the periodical within the volume

12

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

28

Pages from-to

3761-3788

UT code for WoS article

001168782300001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85160826752