Hydrodynamics and Salinity of Pontchartrain Estuary During Hurricanes

A hurricane is a combination of sustained winds, low atmospheric pressures and precipitation. Over the past decades, Louisiana has experienced several devastating hurricanes. The east bank of the City of New Orleans is bounded by Lake Pontchartrain to the North and the Mississippi River to the South. Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish system connected to the Gulf of Mexico through Lake Borgne to the East. As a Hurricane enters the Estuary from the Gulf of Mexico, it imposes a sustained surge of a few meters which may lead to flooding in areas which are not protected by levees. These flood water may be saline. Saltwater flooding is an environmental issue in flooded marshlands since saltwater can be fatal to some plants. The response of salinity and storm surge to hurricane duration which represents the forward speed of the storm is numerically modeled