Year 11 - June 08 Decision Making Exercise

Now we have the resource booklet it is important that you familiarise yourself with it before the lesson on Friday. We will spend the time after school going through it and checking that you understand the information it contains. I may suggest questions that could come up and activities that you could do in preparation for the exam.

In this case I do not think there is any need to look for information beyond the booklet - there is plenty in it for you to digest without adding to it.

To start with then - here are some basic defintions. You may chose to look up some of your own. All of these terms are in italics on the paper.

Hard engineering is generally defined as controlled disruption of natural processes by using artificial structures

Soft engineering is the use of ecological principles and practices to reduce erosion and achieve the stabilization and safety of shorelines and the area surrounding rivers, while enhancing habitat, improving aesthetics, and saving money

Levées

• River embankments built by deposition as the river floods.
• High mounds of silt, which have deposited on the banks of a river during flooding and have frequently been increased artificially to protect the floodplain.
• They are usually made of earth and run parallel to the river banks

Discharge - is the volume of water (or more broadly, volume of fluid plus suspended sediment) that passes a given point within a given period of time. It is measured in cumecs (cubic metres per second)

SEDIMENT - Material such as mud and sand that has been moved and deposited by water, ice or wind

FLOODWAY - A channel for an overflow of water caused by flooding

DREDGING - means the removal of the sediment or other materials from the beds, banks or shores of, a waterbody by means of hydraulic suction, mechanical excavation or any other means.

Coastal erosion - wearing away of coastline by waves e.g. Hydraulic pressure, corrasion (abrasion) and corrosion. (you need to learn full definitions of these terms)

Storm surge - A rise of the sea, preceding a storm (usually a hurricane) due to the winds of the storm and low atmospheric pressure

Here are a couple of movies from You Tube that may help you look at the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans - there is the Led Zepplin version OR the cheesy american pop one. Hope you have a strong stomach.

Also this clip of Katrina from a satellite.