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VAFEIDIS, A.T.; NICHOLLS, R.J.; MCFADDEN, L.; TOL, R.S.J.; HINKEL, J.; SPENCER, T.; GRASHOFF, P.S.; BOOT, G., and KLEIN, R.J.T., 2008. A new global coastal database for impact and vulnerability analysis to sea-level rise. Journal of Coastal Research, 24(4), 917-924. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.A new global coastal database has been developed within the context of the DINAS-COAST project. The database covers the world's coasts, excluding Antarctica, and includes information on more than 80 physical, ecological, and socioeconomic parameters of the coastal zone. The database provides the base data for the Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment modelling tool that the DINAS-COAST project has produced. In order to comply with the requirements of the modelling tool, it is based on a data model in which all information is referenced to more than 12,000 linear coastal segments of variable length. For efficiency of data storage, six other geographic features (administrative units, countries, rivers, tidal basins or estuaries, world heritage sites, and climate grid cells) are used to reference some data, but all are linked to the linear segment structure. This fundamental linear data structure is unique for a global database and represents an efficient solution to the problem of representing and storing coastal data. The database has been specifically designed to support impact and vulnerability analysis to sea-level rise at a range of scales up to global. Due to the structure, consistency, user-friendliness, and wealth of information in the database, it has potential wider application to analysis and modelling of the world's coasts, especially at regional to global scales. ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS:Segmentation, coastal geographic information system (GIS), data model, climate change, global change.

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[1] A coupled storm surge and overland flow model is used to simulate extreme coastal flooding of Canvey Island, a dense urban area located at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, U.K. The flood model is based on a shock-capturing numerical scheme and resolves the terrain and buildings of the study area with high-resolution topographic data. Repeat simulation is used to propagate uncertainties in model inputs and parameters through to uncertainties in model outputs, and the main sources of uncertainties are described. The greatest uncertainties originate from the forcing inputs to the flood model, including coastal water levels and sea defense failures, rather than its internal boundaries, such as the model terrain and bottom friction. This is consistent with studies in rural and semideveloped floodplains and reflects a combination of high sensitivity to, and uncertainty in, the forcing inputs. However, other numerical and physical variables introduce significant uncertainties, of which many are specific to, or altered by, the urban floodplain. In particular, model predictions are sensitive to the spatial resolution (Ds) of the numerical grid. This includes the effects of Ds on boundary features (walls, hedges, etc.), which are described in the bed friction coefficient, and on the representation of buildings, which are described in the model terrain. Finally, model predictions are integrated across multiple combinations of breach width and location to explore the ''relative'' hazards (i.e., spatial and temporal variations in hazard) associated with the floodplain geography.

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