Woodruff to talk about high water, extreme floods and coastal systems at DMC

Winter 2018 in New England was one for the record books in terms of coastal flooding; Portland, Maine recorded extreme high-water levels not experienced since the infamous Blizzard of 1978.

University of Massachusetts associate professor Jon Woodruff will talk about “High water, extreme floods and coastal systems” at 10:30 a.m. July 20 in Brooke Hall at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center, at 193 Clarks Cove Road, Walpole.

Woodruff will discuss how changes in tides, sea level and storm activity have influenced flooding in the region over the last two centuries. He evaluated the impacts of 2018 storm events on beaches, marshes and estuaries in southern New England, highlighting the important role of storms in governing the evolution of coastal landscapes over time.

Woodruff,  a faculty member in the UMass Department of Geosciences, specializes in sediment dynamics in coastal, estuarine and fluvial systems, studying how storms and floods are recorded in within the geologic record.

Woodruff’s talk is part of the DMC’s science seminar series. The free, public Friday seminars provide opportunities to discuss current marine research.

Visit dmc.umaine.edu/seminars to preregister and for the list of other featured speakers and topics. For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, call 207.563.3146.

Contact: Hanna Deon, hanna.deon@maine.edu.