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Scaling up!

Hi! I'm Mo Barrow with The Discovery Files, from NSF -- the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Hurricane force winds, storm surge and epic waves can be devastating to homes and other structures.

Rising sea levels in coastal communities have increasingly exposed them to historic levels of hurricane damage. How do we protect these communities?

An NSF-funded team of researchers from four universities are studying the extraordinary forces hurricanes generate and the structural damage they cause.

Using two wood-frame scale model homes, at different elevations, researchers observed how each weathered simulated storm conditions, similar to Hurricanes Ike and Sandy. The ground level model fared much worse.

NSF-funded LIDAR, "Light Detection and Ranging," technology has also proved an effective tool in generating potential flood scenarios for coastal communities.

The possibility of catastrophic damage from hurricanes should be a critical component in the design of homes for coastal communities.

Discover how the U.S. National Science Foundation is advancing research at nsf.gov.

"The discovery files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.

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