Frequency of tidal storm surge at New York harbor (New York) and Newark bay (New Jersey)

A joint probability analysis of storm tides is made for the Battery, New York (U.S.A.), and Newark Bay, New Jersey (U.S.A.). Storm tides are caused by either low-pressure coastal storms (northeasters) or hurricanes. The analysis uses existing gage data at the Battery to construct frequency/probability curves of peak surge elevations and tidal amplitudes. These are used in a computer program to combine standard storm surge stages and tidal stage curves to produce an artificial storm tide with given peak elevation and incremental frequency. These peak elevations and incremental frequencies are ranked to produce cumulative frequency curves for northeasters and hurricanes. A frequency curve is obtained for Newark Bay via correlation.