Research

Summer 2011 Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean, Marine, and Polar Science
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, North Carolina 27909

http://nia.ecsu.edu/ureomps2010/

Charles Creek Flood Zone Modeling:
A Correlation Study of Environmental Conditions Versus Water Level in the Pasquotank Watershed

Mentor: Je'aime Powell (ECSU), Jerome Mitchell (IU)

Members: Nartezya Dykes (SC), Lekedrick Easley (MVSU)

[Team Page]

Abstract:

The Charles Creek area in Elizabeth City, NC experiences frequent flood conditions seemingly unrelated to rain fall amounts. The purpose of this study was to compare barometric pressures, lunar cycles, wind directions, and wind speeds with water depth reading of Charles Creek (a tributary of the Pasquotank River). A static remote imaging system was used to measure water depth through pixel enumeration and referencing through remote sensing techniques coupled with custom image recognition software. Environmental data was collected through Elizabeth City State University's National Renwable Energy Laboratory Weather Monitoring Station. The data was correlated using MATLAB(R) to find an equation that approximated a model of the rise of the creek's water level based upon environmental conditons. The regression equation had a coefficient of determination of 42%.  This meant that there was a 42% probability that the model was useful at predicting the pixel count based on environmental variables.