Search Results (894)

Coasts are the most densely populated regions in the world and are vulnerable to different natural and human factors, e.g., sea-level rise, coastal accretion and erosion processes, the intensification of sea storms and hurricanes, the presence of marine litter, chronic pollution and beach oil spill accidents, etc. Although coastal zones have been affected by local anthropic activities for decades, their impacts on coastal ecosystems is often unclear. Several papers are presented in this Special Issue detailing the interactions between natural processes and human impacts in coastal ecosystems all around the world. A better understanding of such natural and human impacts is therefore of great relevance to confidently predict their negative effects on coastal areas and thus promote different conservation strategies. The implementation of adequate management measures will help coastal communities adapt to future scenarios in the short and long term and prevent damage due to different pollution types, e.g., beach oil spill accidents, through the establishment of Environmental Sensitivity Maps. Full article

Forests are recognized for sustaining good water chemistry within landscapes. This study focuses on the water chemistry parameters and their hydrological predictability and seasonality (as a component of predictability) in watersheds of varying scales, with and without human (forest management) activities on them, using Colwell indicators for data collected during 2011–2019. The research was conducted in three forested watersheds located at the US Forest Service Santee Experimental Forest in South Carolina USA. The analysis revealed statistically significant (α = 0.05) differences between seasons for stream flow, water table elevation (WTE), and all water chemistry indicators in the examined watersheds for the post-Hurricane Joaquin period (2015–2019), compared to the 2011–2014 period. WTE and flow were identified as having the greatest influence on nitrogen concentrations. During extreme precipitations events, such as hurricanes or tropical storms, increases in WTE and flow led to a decrease in the concentrations of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), NH₄-N, and NO₃-N+NO₂-N, likely due to dilution. Colwell indicators demonstrated higher predictability (P) for most hydrologic and water chemistry indicators in the 2011–2014 period compared to 2015–2019, indicating an increase in the seasonality component compared to constancy (C), with a larger decrease in C/P for 2015–2019 compared to 2011–2014. The analysis further highlighted the influence of extreme hydrometeorological events on the changing predictability of hydrology and water chemistry indicators in forested streams. The results demonstrate the influence of hurricanes on hydrological behavior in forested watersheds and, thus, the seasonality and predictability of water chemistry variables within and emanating out of the watershed, potentially influencing the downstream ecosystem. The findings of this study can inform forest watershed management in response to natural or anthropogenic disturbances. Full article

Mozambique is confronted with numerous risks related to food security and natural disasters. The study conducted a literature review on natural hazards and food security. This can help to identify gaps and further areas of research. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using standardized text search terms, and the VOSviewer tool was used to analyze over 7000 scientific articles and cluster over 60,000 keyword co-occurrences. The results show that research on natural hazards for food security needs to be integrated. The priority topic of disasters focuses on specific hazards such as climate change, floods, and hurricanes, which are also linked to demographic and other social variables. More studies on food security, such as droughts, sustainable development, and other human and social conditions, are being conducted. Resilience as an emerging research paradigm needs to be addressed in comparison. One result is an analytical framework on impacts on food security in the context of disaster risk, based on the empirical findings of the literature review. It shows how everyday risks such as disease or food security can be conceptually better linked to natural hazards and resilience. It shows that further research is needed on the interlinkages of multiple risks, of which Mozambique is an outstanding example. The methodology presented is also applied to provide a framework for linking multiple risks to food security and natural hazards. The innovative dimension of the research is that this inquiry constitutes one of the pioneering attempts to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the linkages between natural hazards, food security, and resilience in Mozambique. Another noteworthy contribution is introducing a novel analytical framework that integrates food security and disaster risks. Full article

Tropical cyclones are rare in the South Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Catarina (2004), developed from a tropical transition, was the first documented case, followed by Iba (2019), which had a purely tropical genesis. In February 2024, the southeastern South Atlantic recorded its third tropical cyclone, Akará, initially a subtropical system. Due to the specific conditions required for tropical cyclones to develop in this ocean basin, the main purpose of this study is to describe the physical mechanisms that triggered the genesis of Akará’s precursor and its tropical transition. Data from various sources and methodologies, including the cyclone phase space diagram, are used in this study. Results show that the passage of a cold front created an environment with horizontal wind shear, contributing to most of the cyclonic relative vorticity in the genesis region. This was the primary driver of cyclogenesis at 1200 UTC on 15 February, along with other secondary processes. The tropical transition occurred as the vertical shear weakened, and turbulent heat fluxes from the ocean to the atmosphere increased, enhancing diabatic processes that warmed the atmosphere. This led to the tropical transition at 0600 UTC on 17 February. Full article

Coastal mangrove forests provide numerous ecosystem services, which can be disrupted by natural disturbances, mainly hurricanes. Canopy height (CH) is a key parameter for estimating carbon storage. Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is widely viewed as the most accurate method for estimating CH but data are often limited in spatial coverage and are not readily available for rapid impact assessment after hurricane events. Hence, we evaluated the use of systematically acquired space-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical observations with airborne LiDAR to predict CH across expansive mangrove areas in South Florida that were severely impacted by Category 3 Hurricane Irma in 2017. We used pre- and post-Irma LiDAR-derived canopy height models (CHMs) to train Random Forest regression models that used features of Sentinel-1 SAR time series, Landsat-8 optical, and classified mangrove maps. We evaluated (1) spatial transfer learning to predict regional CH for both time periods and (2) temporal transfer learning coupled with species-specific error correction models to predict post-Irma CH using models trained by pre-Irma data. Model performance of SAR and optical data differed with time period and across height classes. For spatial transfer, SAR data models achieved higher accuracy than optical models for post-Irma, while the opposite was the case for the pre-Irma period. For temporal transfer, SAR models were more accurate for tall trees (>10 m) but optical models were more accurate for short trees. By fusing data of both sensors, spatial and temporal transfer learning achieved the root mean square errors (RMSEs) of 1.9 m and 1.7 m, respectively, for absolute CH. Predicted CH losses were comparable with LiDAR-derived reference values across height and species classes. Spatial and temporal transfer learning techniques applied to readily available spaceborne satellite data can enable conservation managers to assess the impacts of disturbances on regional coastal ecosystems efficiently and within a practical timeframe after a disturbance event. Full article

Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall in southern Louisiana in August of 2021, causing widespread wind damage and flooding. The objective of this study was to investigate knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to post-hurricane mold exposure and cleanup among residents and workers in areas of Louisiana affected by Hurricane Ida and assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices that have occurred over the past 16 years since Hurricane Katrina. We conducted in-person interviews with 238 residents and 68 mold-remediation workers in areas in and around New Orleans to ask about their mold cleanup knowledge and practices, personal protective equipment use, and risk perceptions related to mold. Knowledge of recommended safety measures increased since the post-Katrina survey but adherence to recommended safety measures did not. Many residents and some workers reported using insufficient personal protective equipment when cleaning up mold despite awareness of the potential negative health effects of mold exposure. Full article

Coastal forests in the eastern United States are increasingly threatened by hurricanes; however, monitoring their initial impacts and subsequent recovery is challenging across scales. Understanding disturbance impacts and responses is essential for sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change adaptation. Using Sentinel-2 imagery, we calculated the annual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index change (∆NDVI) of forests before and after Hurricane Michael (HM) in Florida to determine how different forest use types were impacted, including the initial wind damage in 2018 and subsequent recovery or reactive management for two focal areas located near and far from the coast. We used detailed parcel data to define forest use types and characterized multi-year impacts using sampling and k-means clustering. We analyzed five years of timberland logging activity up to the fall of 2023 to identify changes in logging rates that may be attributable to post-hurricane salvage efforts. We found uniform impacts across forest use types near the coast, where winds were the most intense but differences inland. Forest use types showed a wide range of multi-year responses. Urban forests had the fastest 3-year recovery, and the timberland response was delayed, apparently due to salvage logging that increased post-hurricane, peaked in 2021–2022, and returned to the pre-hurricane rate by 2023. The initial and secondary consequences of HM on forests were complex, as they varied across local and landscape gradients. These insights reveal the importance of considering forest use types to understand the resilience of coastal forests in the face of potentially increasing hurricane activity. Full article

The literature shows that communities under different socio-economic conditions suffer different levels of damage in disasters. In addition to the physical intensity of hazards, such differences are also related to the varying abilities of communities to prepare for and respond to disasters. This study analyzes the spatial patterns of building damage in Hurricane Ian in 2022 and investigates the socio-economic disparities related to the damage. Specifically, this study employs NASA’s Damage Proxy Map (DPM2) to analyze spatial patterns of building damage caused by the hurricane. Then, it uses statistical analysis to assess the relationships between building damage and hurricane intensity, building conditions, and socio-economic variables at the building and census tract levels. Furthermore, the study applies geographically weighted regression (GWR) to examine the spatial variation of the damage factors. The results provide valuable insights into the potential factors related to building damage and the spatial variation in the factors. The results also reveal the uneven distribution of building damage among different population groups, implying socio-economic inequalities in disaster adaptation and resilience. Moreover, the study provides actionable information for policymakers, emergency responders, and community leaders in formulating strategies to mitigate the impact of future hurricanes by identifying vulnerable communities and population groups. Full article

This study investigates public interest in geological disasters by analyzing Google Trends data from 2023. This research focuses on earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and tsunamis to understand how search behaviors reflect public awareness and concern. This study identifies temporal and geographical patterns in search trends. Key findings reveal that public interest spikes during significant disaster events, such as the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria and the August 2023 hurricanes in the United States. This study highlights the importance of timely and accurate information dissemination for disaster preparedness and response. Google Trends proves to be a valuable tool for monitoring public interest, offering real-time insights that can enhance disaster management strategies and improve community resilience. This study’s insights are essential for policymakers, disaster management agencies, and educational efforts aimed at mitigating the impacts of natural disasters. Full article

Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Advanced Baseline Imager (GOES-R ABI) flood products have been widely used by the National Weather Service (NWS) for river flood monitoring, and by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for rescue and relief efforts. Some water bodies, like wetlands, are detected as water but not marked as permanent or normal water, which may result in their misclassification as floodwaters by VIIRS and GOES-R flood products. These water bodies generally do not cause significant property damage or fatalities, but they can complicate the identification of truly hazardous floods. This study utilizes the severe Louisiana flood event caused by Hurricane Ida to demonstrate how to differentiate wetlands from real-hazard flooding. Since Hurricane Ida made landfall in 2021, and there was no major flood event in 2022, VIIRS and ABI flood data from 2021 and 2022 were selected. The difference in annual total flooding days between 2021 and 2022 was calculated and combined with long-time flood frequency to distinguish non-hazard floodwaters due to wetlands identified from real-hazard floods caused by the hurricane. The results were compared with the wetlands from the change detection analysis. The confusion matrix analysis indicated an accuracy of 91.58%, precision of 89.97%, and F1-score of 76.63% for the VIIRS flood products. For the GOES-R ABI flood products, the confusion matrix analysis yielded an accuracy of 86.88%, precision of 97.49%, and F1-score of 75.21%. The accuracy and F1-score values for the GOES-R ABI flood products are slightly lower than those for the VIIRS flood products, possibly due to their lower spatial resolution, but still within a feasible range. Full article

Since 2017, Puerto Rico has faced environmental, economic, and political crises, leading to the emigration of healthcare workers and weakening the healthcare system. These challenges have affected cancer treatment continuity, exacerbating healthcare access challenges island-wide. In this study, we estimate the effect of the residence region on cancer treatment disruption following Hurricanes Irma and María (2017). Telephone surveys were conducted with 241 breast and colorectal cancer patients aged 40 and older who were diagnosed within six months before the hurricanes and were receiving treatment at the time of the hurricanes. Treatment disruption was defined as any pause in surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or oral treatment due to the hurricanes. Prevalence ratios (PRs) of treatment disruption by residence region were estimated using the San Juan Metropolitan Area (SJMA) as the reference. Fifty-nine percent of respondents reported treatment disruption; among them, half experienced disruptions lasting more than 30 days, with 14% of these enduring disruptions longer than 90 days. Adjusted models showed a 48% higher prevalence of disruption outside the SJMA (PR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.06–2.07). Specific geographic regions (Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas, and Mayagüez) exhibited higher disruption prevalence. These findings emphasize the need for disaster preparedness strategies that ensure equitable healthcare access for all cancer patients following environmental calamities. Full article

Estuarine phytoplankton communities are acclimated to environmental parameters that change seasonally. With climate change, they are having to respond to extreme weather events that create dramatic alterations to ecosystem function(s) on the scale of days. Herein, we examined the short term (<1 month) shifts in phytoplankton communities associated with four pulse disturbances (Tax Day Flood in 2016, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019, and Winter Storm Uri in 2021) that occurred in Galveston Bay (TX, USA). Water samples collected daily were processed using an Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB), along with concurrent measurements of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll-a. Stronger storm events with localized heavy precipitation and flooding had greater impacts on community composition, increasing diversity (Shannon–Weiner and Simpson Indices) while a cold wave event lowered it. Diatoms and dinoflagellates accounted for the largest fraction of the community, cyanobacteria and chlorophytes varied mostly with salinity, while euglenoids, cryptophytes, and raphidophytes, albeit at lower densities, fluctuated greatly. The unconstrained variance of the redundancy analysis models pointed to additional environmental processes than those measured being responsible for the changes observed. These findings provide insights into the impact of pulse disturbances of different magnitudes, durations, and timings on phytoplankton communities. Full article

Hurricane incidents have become increasingly frequent along the coastal United States and have had a negative impact on the mangrove forests and their ecosystem services across the southeastern region. Mangroves play a key role in providing coastal protection during hurricanes by attenuating storm surges and reducing erosion. However, their resilience is being increasingly compromised due to climate change through sea level rises and the greater intensity of storms. This article examines the role of remote sensing tools in studying the impacts of hurricanes on mangrove forests in the coastal United States. Our results show that various remote sensing tools including satellite imagery, Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used to detect mangrove damage, monitor their recovery and analyze their 3D structural changes. Landsat 8 OLI (14%) has been particularly useful in long-term assessments, followed by Landsat 5 TM (9%) and NASA G-LiHT LiDAR (8%). Random forest (24%) and linear regression (24%) models were the most common modeling techniques, with the former being the most frequently used method for classifying satellite images. Some studies have shown significant mangrove canopy loss after major hurricanes, and damage was seen to vary spatially based on factors such as proximity to oceans, elevation and canopy structure, with taller mangroves typically experiencing greater damage. Recovery rates after hurricane-induced damage also vary, as some areas were seen to show rapid regrowth within months while others remained impacted after many years. The current challenges include capturing fine-scale changes owing to the dearth of remote sensing data with high temporal and spatial resolution. This review provides insights into the current remote sensing applications used in hurricane-prone mangrove habitats and is intended to guide future research directions, inform coastal management strategies and support conservation efforts. Full article

Natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, and floods pose immediate hazards. Such events often necessitate prompt emergency evacuations to save lives and reduce fatalities, injuries, and property damage. This study focuses on optimizing wildfire evacuations by analyzing the influence of different transportation infrastructures and the penetration of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on a historical wildfire event. The methodology involves modeling various evacuation scenarios and incorporating different intersection traffic controls such as roundabouts and stop signs and an evacuation strategy like lane reversal with various AV penetration rates. The analysis results demonstrate that specific interventions on evacuation routes can significantly reduce travel times during evacuations. Additionally, a comparative analysis across different scenarios shows a promising improvement in travel time with a higher level of AV penetration. These findings advocate for the integration of autonomous technologies as a crucial component of future emergency response strategies, demonstrating the potential for broader applications in disaster management. Future studies can expand on these findings by examining the broader implications of integrating AVs in emergency evacuations. Full article

Background: Mental health in Puerto Rico is a complex and multifaceted issue that has been shaped by the island’s unique history, culture, and political status. Recent challenges, including disasters, economic hardships, and political turmoil, have significantly affected the mental well-being of the population, coupled with the limitations in the accessibility of mental health services. Thus, Puerto Rico has fewer mental health professionals per capita than any other state or territory in the United States. Objective: This comprehensive review examines the impact of disasters on mental health and mental health services in Puerto Rico. Given the exodus of Puerto Ricans from the island, this review also provides an overview of mental health resources available on the island, as well as in the continental United States. This review identifies efforts to address mental health issues, with the intent of gaining a proper understanding of the available mental health services, key trends, as well as observable challenges and achievements within the mental health landscape of the Puerto Rican population. Design: A comprehensive search using the PRIMO database of the University of Central Florida (UCF) library database was conducted, focusing on key terms related to disasters and mental healthcare and services in Puerto Rico. The inclusion criteria encompassed studies on Puerto Rican individuals, both those who remained on the island and those who migrated post-disaster, addressing the mental health outcomes and services for adults and children. We included peer-reviewed articles published from 2005 onwards in English and/or Spanish, examining the impact of disasters on mental health, accessibility of services, and/or trauma-related consequences. Results: In this scoping review, we identified 39 studies addressing the mental health profile of Puerto Ricans, identifying significant gaps in service availability and accessibility and the impact of environmental disasters on mental health. The findings indicate a severe shortage of mental health services in Puerto Rico, exacerbated by disasters such as Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the earthquakes of late 2019 and early 2020 that followed, and the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in substantial delays in accessing care, and limited insurance coverage, particularly in rural regions. Despite these challenges, efforts to improve mental health services have included substantial federal funding and community initiative aimed at enhancing care availability and infrastructure. Limitations include the use of a single database, language restrictions, and potential variability in data extraction and synthesis. Conclusions: This scoping review highlights the significant impact of disasters on mental health in Puerto Rico and the challenges in accessing mental health services exacerbated by disasters. Despite efforts, significant gaps in mental healthcare and services persist, emphasizing the need for more rigorous research and improvements in infrastructure and workforce to enhance mental health outcomes for Puerto Ricans both on the island and in the continental United States. Full article