An Analysis of the Long Term Trends and Meteorological Drivers of Coastal Nuisance Flooding in Annapolis, MD

Most of the research to date related to coastal flooding has been focused on high-impact, episodic events (e.g. storm surge) or decomposing the drivers of long-term changes in relative sea level. Coastal nuisance flooding (often called “high tide flooding”) occurs on much different time scales and the impacts and drivers are often difficult to characterize. This study investigated medium- to long-term trends in coastal nuisance flooding in Annapolis, MD. Annapolis is located at the mouth of the Severn River, a tidal tributary of mesohaline Chesapeake Bay, and home of the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA). The analysis of water level observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Annapolis tide gauge (Station ID: 8575512, located at USNA) shows a near-linear rise in long-term sea level with an exponential increase in occurrences and duration of coastal nuisance flooding since 1930. The results further show that synoptic scale meteorological wind forcing is a primary driver of local coastal nuisance flooding with impacts varying by wind direction and wind duration.