Research into techniques for dampening waves and blunting storm surges for New York City’s waterways may prove useful in protecting the Louisiana delta while minimizing environmental disruption.
City College of New York associate professor Catherine Nordeson, who is visiting LSU for the spring semester as the Nadine Carter Russell Endowed Chair, delivered a lecture entitled “Coastline: Design for Resilience and the Invention of a Landscape Lexicon” on Monday in the LSU Design Building Auditorium.
“There are many reasons why learning from Louisiana and learning from New York are very similar,” Nordenson said. “You can see we’re up against some of the same problems … looking at sea level rise.”
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the North Atlantic Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers ordered a two year study to help assess the impact of Hurricane Sandy and the current vulnerability of ecosystems and communities from Virginia to Maine.
Staff from City College of New York , including Nordenson , participated in the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study byconducting research on sities such as Jamaica Bay, an area with extensive but receding wetlands located alongside John F. Kennedy International Airport on Long Island, New York.
The creation of small artificial islands and glass reefs to dissipate the energy of waves before they make landfall and improved rainwater drainage systems were among the proposed approaches for New York City showcased for the Museum of Modern Art’s 2010 “Rising Currents” exhibition.
Coastal erosion of wetlands in Louisiana threatens important natural habitats and the energy industry and places human populations at risk of greater hurricane damage, according to the New Orleans District of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
“The Mississippi Delta region is like a tapestry,” said Nordenson. “Very very thin, almost lace-like moments where land and water come together.”
Rerouting the Mississippi River from the current course to flow down one of its tributaries is one proposed mechanism by which the Louisiana delta could be reinforced with more land and sediment delivery, Nordenson said.
Rather than trying to completely block off the flow of waves with a wall across the bay, New York and other cities could instead be protected with ecological and nature-based approaches that dampen the impact of waves and allow for predictable flooding and drainage.
“We could actually start to address the city as a place that might be more amphibious than the one we know now,” Nordenson said. “We could start to absorb water, to let water in to reduce wave energy.”