A PALEOTEMPESTOLOGY RECORD FROM THE COAST OF GEORGIA, USA

This paper presents results of a paleotempestology record from St. Catherines and Wassaw Islands, Georgia, on the US Atlantic coast. The Georgia coast has not experienced major hurricane landfall for more than one century. However, the apparent infrequency of intense hurricanes strikes is based largely on instrumental data that are essentially limited to the last 160 years. Nonetheless, repeated hurricane strikes north and south of Georgia in the recent past have perpetuated a lackadaisical attitude in the general public in coastal Georgia as to their vulnerability to severe hurricanes. Multi-proxy data analyses including of Loss on Ignition, X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy, and foraminifera from sediment cores collected from salt marshes on St. Catherines Island show evidence of at least seven major storm events over the past 3000 years. The record also shows apparent alternating activity regimes of active periods and a quiet period which suggests significant changes in hurricane climatology during the last 3000 years. The St. Catherines Island record helps alleviate the dearth of long-term records of intense coastal hurricanes that are necessary for estimating the probabilities for occurrence of extreme events.