4 Geohazards in the Northeastern U.S.: Investigation and Mitigation

Sunday, 17 March 2024
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Piscataquog Room

DEVELOPING A COASTAL FLOODING RISK ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT CLIMATE-SMART WORKING WATERFRONTS IN MAINE

Paper number: 4-11
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 11:00 AM – 11:20 AM

Authors

Abstract

Maine’s working waterfronts are already prone to flooding during the highest annual tides and high-tide storm surges, with impacts ranging from minor nuisances (e.g. a few wet tires in a parking lot) to damaged utilities that halt operations. We are developing a risk assessment framework that supports climate-smart adaptation of working waterfront operations and infrastructure, which are central to the economy and identity of Maine’s coastal towns. Given the dual challenges of limited funding and the shortened lifespan of salt-exposed infrastructure, working waterfront managers are routinely faced with assessing tradeoffs between flood risk and adaptation cost. Our framework will support managers in inventorying assets, determining design elevations, and evaluating replacement options given infrastructure lifespan, elevation, code requirements, and risk tolerance. We compute design elevations by combining probabilistic sea level rise, joint tide-surge statistics, and published sea level rise allowance frameworks. With this framework, working waterfronts will be equipped to build flood resilience through their everyday management decisions.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 1

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024NE-397691

© Copyright 2024 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.