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RI Coastal Resources Management Council

...to preserve, protect, develop, and restore coastal resources for all Rhode Islanders

NOAA grant provides funds to improve prediction, protection from coastal storms

Rhode Island, four other New England states to receive funding

March 8, 2016, WAKEFIELD – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management has announced it will award $890,000 to the Northeast Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) and its partners to improve coastal storm prediction and protection in the region.
           
Each year, coastal storms cause severe damage to communities and properties throughout the Northeast, and studies indicate that climate change may increase the frequency and intensity of these storm events over time. The NOAA grant will support the efforts of 14 partners in each of the five coastal states, including Rhode Island, to improve the prediction of storm impacts and implement protective infrastructure in vulnerable New England communities.

“We are very pleased that NOAA’s Office of Coastal Ocean Management has selected our proposal for an award, in what has been a very highly competitive process, and look forward to enhancing NERACOOS’s Northeast Regional Coastal Ocean Forecasting System with high-resolution models that are focused on providing predictions of water levels and waves at the state and community level,” said Dr. Malcolm Spaulding, one of Rhode Island’s primary investigators. “The results of this effort should have immediate benefit to those responsible for emergency response and community and statewide planning efforts in response to storm events, and to enhance coastal resilience.”

Beginning in the summer of 2016, this two-year project will better prepare New England communities for coastal storms and their impacts. Research teams in every coastal state – University of Rhode Island, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, University of New Hampshire, and the University of Maine – will develop detailed coastal flooding forecasts for vulnerable communities. Spaulding Environmental Associations, LLC, will oversee project management.

Coastal managers from each state – the Coastal Resources Management Council in Rhode Island – will also implement protective green infrastructure in these susceptible coastal cities and towns, with that project management to be overseen by the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC).

In Rhode Island, the CRMC, along with the University of Rhode Island, will utilize its award – approximately $110,000 – to build coastal resilience in the region, through a broad regional partnership. The resulting project will address important issues and accomplish two major goals: a better understanding of the locations and magnitudes of coastal storm impacts; and an increased awareness and implementation of sustainable, nature-based green infrastructure management approaches (living shorelines).

“Rhode Island is seeing increasing storm and flooding events as a result of climate change and sea level rise, and the Northeast is seeing this at a more intense rate than the rest of the country,” said CRMC Executive Director Grover Fugate. “It’s of the utmost importance that our cities and towns be prepared for these events, not only to know in advance where they need to place their emergency response infrastructure and personnel, but also to know how exactly these storm events will impact their communities. The storm surge forecasting will give communities the warnings they’ll need, while the green infrastructure effort will give communities and property owners more tools for adapting to these conditions. Coastal adaptation is key. This grant will help foster an invaluable partnership among the regional states, so that we can learn from each other and that, in turn, will help us to become more resilient.”

Coastal communities and their response capabilities would greatly benefit from the availability of high-resolution, more accurate information on improving storm event forecasting, including pre-storm preparation, emergency response, coastal hazard mitigation, local planning, and resource management. This capability is also vital to the developing efforts to evaluate the use of living shorelines as infrastructure, and to devise management practices for these efforts.

Through two coordinated, interwoven tracks, this project will fill priority data and capacity gaps, develop and increase access to tools for more informed decision-making, improve communication and education, and support the application of sustainable shoreline management responses.

The goal of the first track is to build on the region’s existing nation-leading work and capacity by continuing the development and implementation of a comprehensive, coordinated regional coastal and riverine inundation observation and modeling system, focused on forecasting and planning. It will do the following:

  1. Expand the current regional inundation observation and forecasting systems (NECOFS) to include high resolution grids in locations selected by each state to meet their most critical needs for inundation prediction;
  2. Generate once in one hundred year flooding maps with sea level rise based on inundation model predictions and water level return period analyses from existing long-term water level gauge measurements in support of coastal planning; and
  3. Work with end-users and stakeholders to clearly identify how the information can best be provided to suit their needs, implement the selected methods, and verify that user needs are met.

Results of track one will include real-time inundation forecast system predictions available via the NERACOOS web site, and a web-based map viewer to display 100-year return period maps with varying sea level rise scenarios.

The goal of track two is to develop tools and information to support decision-making for increased applications of living shorelines, which will improve coastal resilience to erosion, flooding, and storm impacts in the Northeast. The objectives are to:

  1. Increase the understanding of and access to living shoreline approaches in the region by developing a “state-of-the-practice” report, fact sheets, and other education/communication products specific to the region; and conducting community workshops and training programs; and
  2. Increase capacity for implementation of living shoreline approaches by:

(a) identifying and addressing state and federal regulatory issues that may create barriers or result in prolonged permit reviews; and (b) working directly with communities and stakeholders in selected focus areas to work on prioritizing living shoreline projects, utilizing the Track 1 inundation modeling.
Results of track two will include a report on the “state-of-the-practice” analysis of living shoreline management approaches for the Northeast, comprised of the many public education and outreach efforts outlined in Track 2.

Through The Nature Conservancy, RPS Group, and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, all project information will be made available online to aid with pre-storm preparation, emergency response, coastal hazard mitigation, local planning, and resource management. Dr. Jason Tuell, director of the National Weather Service Eastern Region, stated that the project will “aid our primary goal to protect life and property and stimulate maritime economics along the Northeast Coast.”

 

Stedman Government Center
Suite 116, 4808 Tower Hill Road, Wakefield, RI 02879-1900
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