Application of STORMTOOLS’ Simplified Flood Inundation Model with and without Sea Level Rise to RI Coastal Waters

Spaulding, Malcolm L.; Isaji, T.; Damon, Chris; Fugate, Grover

doi:10.1061/9780784480304.014

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…All water levels are provided in feet, referenced to NAVD88. The highest water levels in this case were found at the upper end of Narragansett Bay and were a result of the amplification of the surge height with distance up the bay (see Figure 4 as an example) [9]. Wave heights in the bay are generally quite limited, given the protected nature of the bay and limited fetch distances.…”

Section: Sde Maps For Narragansett Baymentioning

confidence: 82%

“…The maps were developed under the STORMTOOLS initiative [9], whose goal is to provide access to a suite of coastal planning tools (numerical models, maps, data sets, etc. ), available as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based web service that allows widespread accessibly and applicability at high resolution for user-selected coastal and inland areas of interest.…”

Section: Approach and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following the approach presented in Spaulding et al [9], the 100-yr water levels for storm surge for the study area were estimated using predictions of unstructured grid, coupled, hydrodynamic, and wave models (ADvanced CIRCulation model-STeady state spectral WAVE model/Wave Model ADCIRC-STWAVE/WAM) for 1050 synthetic tropical storms and 100 historical extratropical storms performed as part of the US Army Corp of Engineers, North Atlantic Comprehensive Coast Study (NACCS) [13]. The results of the simulations and return period analyses are archived at approximately 1000 save points principally located near the coast of the entire state.…”

Section: The 100-yr Water Levels Including Effects Of Slrmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The water level for the upper 95% confidence limit (CL), for the surge plus tidal case, was employed to address uncertainty in the estimates. Spaulding et al, 2016 [9] provided additional details, including a comparison of the NACCS-based return period analysis to that based on historical observations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Survey (NOAA NOS) water level stations at Newport (#8452660) and Providence (#8454000), RI [14]. The analysis showed that the surge water levels were approximately linearly amplified with distance from the mouth to the head of Narragansett Bay (factor of 1.35), but were approximately constant along the southern RI shoreline.…”

Section: The 100-yr Water Levels Including Effects Of Slrmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stormtools Design Elevation (SDE) Maps: Including Impact of Sea Level Rise

Spaulding¹,

Grilli²,

Damon

et al. 2020

JMSE

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Many coastal communities in the US use base flood elevation (BFE) maps for the 100-year return period, specified on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), to design structures and infrastructure. The FIRMs are increasingly known to have serious problems in accurately specifying the risk coastal communities face, as most recently evidenced during hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017 and Florence and Michael in 2018. The FIRM BFE maps also do not include the impact of sea level rise, which clearly needs to be considered in the design of coastal structures over the next several decades given recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sea level rise (SLR) projections. Here, we generate alternative BFE maps (STORMTOOLS Design Elevation (SDE) maps) for coastal waters of Rhode Island (RI) using surge predictions from tropical and extratropical storms of the coupled surge-wave models from the US Army Corp of Engineers, North Atlantic Comprehensive Coast Study (NACCS). Wave predictions are based on application of a steady state, spectral wave model (STWAVE), while impacts of coastal erosion/accretion and changes of geomorphology are modeled using XBeach. The high-resolution application of XBeach to the southern RI shoreline has dramatically increased the ability to represent the details of dune erosion and overtopping and the associated development of surge channels and over-wash fans and the resulting landward impact on inundation and waves. All methods used were consistent with FEMA guidelines for the study area and used FEMA-approved models. Maps were generated for 0, 2 ft (0.6 m), 5 ft (1.5 m), 7 ft (2.1 m), and 10 ft (3.1 m) of sea level rise, reflecting NOAA high estimates at various times for the study area through 2100. Results of the simulations are shown for both the southern RI shoreline (South Coast) and Narragansett Bay, to facilitate communication of projected BFEs to the general public. The maps are hosted on the STORMTOOLS ESRI Hub to facilitate access to the data. They are also now part of the RI Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) risk-based permitting system. The user interface allows access to all supporting data including grade elevation, inundation depth, and wave crest heights as well as corresponding FEMA FIRM BFEs and associated zones.

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Section: Sde Maps For Narragansett Baymentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Approach and Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The 100-yr Water Levels Including Effects Of Slrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The 100-yr Water Levels Including Effects Of Slrmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Stormtools Design Elevation (SDE) Maps: Including Impact of Sea Level Rise

Spaulding¹,

Grilli²,

Damon

et al. 2020

JMSE

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Inundation maps supplied by Rhode Island Geographic Information System (RIGIS) were used to estimate areas of projected storm surge flooding by various storm frequencies (RIGIS 2016a; b; Table S1). These simplified flood maps were created by scaling the relationship between water level and return period at a NOAA water level gauging station, using both the NOAA SLOSH model and the US Army Corps of Engineers ADCIRC/WAM/STWAVE models to scale the inundation for varying return periods in RI's coastal waters (Cialone et al 2015;Spaulding et al 2015). Modelled events include storms with a recurrence probability of 1-in-25-years (25-Y), 1-in-50years (50-Y), 1-in-100-years (100-Y) and 1-in-500-years (500-Y).…”

Section: Mapping Flood Extents For Different Storm Categoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geospatial Modeling Suggests Threats from Stormy Seas to Rhode Island’s Coastal Septic Systems

Cox

Dowling²,

Loomis

et al. 2020

J. Sustainable Water Built Environ.

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Modeling the impact of sea level rise on maximum water elevation during storm surge events: a closer look at coastal embayments

et al. 2022

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Storm-surge models are commonly used to assess the impacts of hurricanes and coastal storms in coastal areas. Including the impact of the projected future sea level rise (SLR) in these models is a necessary step for a realistic flood risk assessment. Commonly, SLR is superimposed linearly on the estimated water elevation. This approach, while efficient, may lead to inaccuracies. Further, developing a new model with updated data that include the impacts of SLR (i.e., nonlinear approach) is time consuming. We compare the linear and nonlinear approaches to include the effect of SLR to predict Maximum Water/Flood Elevations (MWE) as a result of storm surge and SLR. After a simplified theoretical analysis, a number of idealized cases based on the typical coastal bodies of water are modeled to assess the impact of SLR on MWE using the linear superposition and nonlinear approaches. Additionally, two case studies are carried out: Narragansett Bay, RI and Long Island Sound, CT (USA). Results show that for the idealized cases with variable depth, in general, the linear superposition of SLR to MWE is conservative (i.e., predicts a larger flood elevation) relative to the nonlinear approach. However, if a constant depth is considered, results are not consistent (i.e. linear superposition can overestimate or underestimate MWE, and the results depended on the geometry). The simulated MWE from the Narragansett Bay simulation confirms the outcome of idealized cases showing that linear assumption is conservative up to 10% relative to the nonlinear approach. For this study, Hurricane Sandy and a Synthetic Storm from the US Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Comprehensive Coastal Study (NACCS) dataset are simulated. Long Island Sound model results are also consistent with the idealized case. In general, based on the results of the idealized and real studies, a discrepancy of up to 10% between the linear and nonlinear approaches is expected in estimation of MWE which can be under-or over-estimation of flood elevation. Address(es) of author(s) should be given Keywords Sea Level Rise • storm surge • water elevation • idealized case • hydrodynamic model • ADCIRC

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Application of STORMTOOLS’ Simplified Flood Inundation Model with and without Sea Level Rise to RI Coastal Waters

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Stormtools Design Elevation (SDE) Maps: Including Impact of Sea Level Rise

Stormtools Design Elevation (SDE) Maps: Including Impact of Sea Level Rise

Geospatial Modeling Suggests Threats from Stormy Seas to Rhode Island’s Coastal Septic Systems

Modeling the impact of sea level rise on maximum water elevation during storm surge events: a closer look at coastal embayments

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