2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

Coastal Hazards Analysis & Coastal Hazards Analysis & Management Program Management Program

(CHAMP)(CHAMP)

A 2005-2007 NOAA Coastal A 2005-2007 NOAA Coastal Management FellowshipManagement Fellowship

CT Department of Environmental Protection CT Department of Environmental Protection Office of Long Island Sound Programs (OLISP)Office of Long Island Sound Programs (OLISP)

May 28May 28thth, 2008, 2008

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP Rationale & ObjectivesCHAMP Rationale & Objectives

Rationale:• State/Municipal officials, academia, coastal property

owners and the general public would benefit from a single, comprehensive, & updatable source of hazards information for the coast.

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP Project DeliverablesCHAMP Project Deliverables

Coastal Hazards Research & Assessment:• Analyze existing coastal hazards information for CT and

provide a status report.

Coastal Hazards Web Site & Visualization Tools:• Web site to deliver hazards related information and data

• Develop an interactive inundation visualization tool

Outreach to Coastal Communities:• Let them know data and tools exist to help

plan/prepare/recover from coastal hazards

This is where GIS data and applications will play a role.

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & Inundation CHAMP & Inundation VisualizationVisualization

Show inundation from sea level rise scenarios:• Let users see the effects of various levels of SLR as GIS

datalayers draped over imagery

• give some “on the ground meaning” to many numbers

• Beginning pilot work area

Show inundation from storm surge:• Let users see the effects of varying intensity storms as GIS

datalayers draped over imagery

• Historic & hypothetical storms

• Leverage expertise from UCONN Marine Science Dept.

• Come after SLR work is further along

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Sea CHAMP & GIS: Sea LevelLevel Rise Process Rise Process1. Obtain best-available elevation

data to model the landscape

• Coastal LiDAR collected by FEMA in 2006 for Flood Map Modernization• “Bare Earth” Digital Elevation Model (DEM) – buildings & vegetation removed• High vertical accuracy (RMSE-spec = 0.61ft; RMSE-data = 0.22ft)• wide spatial coverage

Bluff Point & Poquonock River, Groton, CT

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Sea CHAMP & GIS: Sea LevelLevel Rise Process Rise Process

Coastal LiDAR data coverage area:

(~ area of 100yr Flood Zone)

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

2. Raise water levels to correspond to common values of SLR (ex: IPCC high/low estimates, various scientific studies)

• display rises relative to mean sea level - easy• display rises relative to local tide levels (eg. MHW) - harder

3. Leverage work done previously by UCONN CLEAR to do this:

• extract the areas that = waterbodies from the DEM surface data• use GIS analysis tools that take the waterbody areas and the surrounding land area and flood them to a specific water level

CHAMP & GIS: Sea CHAMP & GIS: Sea LevelLevel Rise Process Rise Process

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Sea CHAMP & GIS: Sea LevelLevel Rise Results Rise Results

DEM surface data draped over 2005 CIR orthophoto

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Sea CHAMP & GIS: Sea LevelLevel Rise Results Rise Results

Waterbody area (approximating mean sea level) extracted from DEM data & draped over 2005 CIR orthophoto

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Sea CHAMP & GIS: Sea LevelLevel Rise Results Rise Results

Areas in GREEN = rise in sea level of 3 ft over mean sea level.

In other words, these areas will flood if sea level rises 3 ft.

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Sea CHAMP & GIS: Sea LevelLevel Rise Results Rise ResultsAreas in YELLOW = expected limit of MHW if sea level rises 3ft.

In other words, these areas will likely experience flooding due to daily tidal action if sea level rises 3 ft.

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Wrap-up/Next StepsCHAMP & GIS: Wrap-up/Next StepsQA/QC work critical

• areas where flooding not possible were flooded due to artifacts in the processing

Begin work on Storm Surge• use UCONN circulation models to create data for storm surge• incorporate detailed community level GIS data (eg storm drin locations) to provide better results.) • use GIS data created from ACOE historic hurricane water level surveys to check results• compare results to recent SLOSH maps, other inundation data

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: Other ExamplesCHAMP & GIS: Other ExamplesUCONN CLEAR:

• looked at coastal storm surge using different elevation data and NWS SLOSH model output• http://clear.uconn.edu/projects/DEVELOP/index.htm

2007-2009 NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship: Coastal Hazards Analysis &

Management Project (CHAMP)

CHAMP & GIS: ContactsCHAMP & GIS: Contacts

Kevin O’Brien

Environmental Analyst

CT Dept. of Environmental ProtectionOffice of Long Island Sound Programs79 Elm St., Hartford, CT 06106Phone:  860-424-3432kevin.obrien@ct.gov

Joel Johnson

NOAA Coastal Management Fellow

CT Dept. of Environmental ProtectionOffice of Long Island Sound Programs79 Elm St., Hartford, CT 06106Phone:  860-424-3939joel.johnson@ct.gov