Some Problems Involved in the Study of Storm Surges

The various forces which affect the height of the sea' and the response of the sea to these forces are reviewed. An attempt to clarify the interactions among the astronomical, climatological, and meteorological forces involved, reveals that the response to any given force varies from one part of the sea to another, and that a complete separation of the effects produced by the various forces is impossible in the present state of knowledge. Some case studies of the "storm surge", the effect of a storm on sea level, are presented. A first approximation to the storm surge is obtained by subtracting from the observed sea level accurate predictions of the astronomical and climatological effects on sea level made by a suitable tide machine. The resulting curves give clear indication of a reaction between the normal tides and the storm surge, but this method of treating the data gives a much clearer picture of the effects of the storm than can be obtained by studying only the observed sea level data.