Data and Tools for Climate and Flood Impacts and Adaptation Planning

OneNOAA Science Seminar Series

Title: Data and Tools for Climate and Flood Impacts and Adaptation Planning

Series Title: Green Infrastructure, Climate, and Cities Seminar Series

Presenter(s): 
Kytt MacManus, Columbia University;
Dr. Philip Orton, Stevens Institute of Technology and CCRUN;
Eric Sanderson, Wildlife Conservation Society

Sponsor(s): Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), a NOAA RISA Team

Seminar Contact: Sean Bath (sean.bath@noaa.gov) or Korin Tangtrakul (krt73@drexel.edu)

Remote Access: Zoom / registration required at https://drexel.zoom.us/webinar/register/1415905103950/WN_ATv2ZyADQp25DPBvEzI9cA

Accessibility: Contact Korin Tangtrakul (krt73@drexel.edu)

Abstract: 
This seminar will introduce 3 map based decision support tools for future adaptation planning:

Sea level rise and flood mappers typically show static GIS-based “bathtub” extrapolations of how floods or daily high tides would rise and spread further out into floodplains. Dynamic model-based flood mappers have a greater capacity for merging flood water sources, simulating the changes in flooding including possible interactions between sea level rise, tides, storm surge and river flows. The Hudson River Flood Impact Decision Support System is an interactive map application that allows users to evaluate the scale of potential flooding for tidally-affected shorelines of the Hudson River Valley and Westchester County under a variety of sea level rise and storm scenarios. HRFIDSS was created by CIESIN and Stevens Institute of Technology with funding provided by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The project web page with additional background information can be found here.

Sea level rise and flood mappers also rarely demonstrate how flood adaptation can reduce the flood areas and depths. We will also describe the general concept of flood adaptation mappers, show an example of such a mapper, and outline possibilities for potential future development. AdaptMap is another dynamic model-based flood mapping web‐tool, and demonstrates the effects of nature-based features on flood hazard zones for the highly populated areas surrounding Jamaica Bay, New York City. The project web page with additional background information can be found here.

Visionmaker is a tool designed to encourage community participation in adaptation planning in New York City. Users from landscape architects to schoolchildren, can define their own area of interest, query the pre-Contact and contemporary ecosystems, and then make their own “vision” of the future by changing ecosystems, lifestyles, and climate scenarios.

Bio(s): 
Kytt MacManus is Senior Systems Analyst at Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute, Columbia University

Phil Orton, Ph.D., is Research Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and a Principal Investigator of the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), a NOAA RISA Team.

Eric Sanderson, Ph.D. is a Senior Conservation Scientist for the WCS Global Conservation Program. Sanderson received his Ph.D. in ecology (emphasis in ecosystem and landscape ecology) from the University of California, Davis, in 1998.

Recordings: All sessions are recorded and posted at http://www.ccrun.org/resources/seminars/

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{Kytt MacManus, Columbia University; Dr. Philip Orton, Stevens Institute of Technology and CCRUN;
Eric Sanderson, Wildlife Conservation Society}