scholarly journals The large-scale impact of climate change to Mississippi flood hazard in New Orleans

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-349
Author(s):  
T. L. A. Driessen ◽  
M. van Ledden
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
High Flows ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The objective of this paper is to describe the impact of climate change on the Mississippi River flood hazard in the New Orleans area. This city has a unique flood risk management challenge, heavily influenced by climate change, since it faces flood hazards from multiple geographical locations (e.g. Lake Pontchartrain and Mississippi River) and multiple sources (hurricane, river, rainfall). Also the low elevation and significant subsidence rate of the Greater New Orleans area poses a high risk and challenges the water management of this urban area. Its vulnerability to flooding became dramatically apparent during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with huge economic losses and a large number of casualties. A SOBEK Rural 1DFLOW model was set up to simulate the general hydrodynamics. This improved model includes two important spillways that are operated during high flow conditions. Subsequently, a weighted multi-criteria calibration procedure was performed to calibrate the model for high flows. Validation for floods in 2011 indicates a very reasonable performance for high flows and clearly demonstrates the necessity of the spillways. 32 different scenarios are defined which includes the relatively large sea level rise and the changing discharge regime that is expected due to climate change. The impact of these scenarios is analysed by the hydrodynamic model. Results show that during high flows New Orleans will not be affected by varying discharge regimes, since the presence of the spillways ensures a constant discharge through the city. In contrary, sea level rise is expected to push water levels upwards. The effect of sea level rise will be noticeable even more than 470 km upstream. Climate change impacts necessitate a more frequent use of the spillways and opening strategies that are based on stages. Potential alternatives on how to cope with the flood hazard of this river in the long term, such as river widening and large-scale redistribution of the flow through diversions, are proposed.

scholarly journals The large-scale impact of climate change to Mississippi flood hazard in New Orleans

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. A. Driessen ◽  
M. van Ledden
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
High Flows ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The objective of this paper was to describe the impact of climate change on the Mississippi River flood hazard in the New Orleans area. This city has a unique flood risk management challenge, heavily influenced by climate change, since it faces flood hazards from multiple geographical locations (e.g. Lake Pontchartrain and Mississippi River) and multiple sources (hurricane, river, rainfall). Also the low elevation and significant subsidence rate of the Greater New Orleans area poses a high risk and challenges the water management of this urban area. Its vulnerability to flooding became dramatically apparent during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with huge economic losses and a large number of casualties. A SOBEK Rural 1DFLOW model was set up to simulate the general hydrodynamics. This model included the two important spillways that are operated during high flow conditions. A weighted multi-criteria calibration procedure was performed to calibrate the model for high flows. Validation for floods in 2011 indicated a reasonable performance for high flows and clearly demonstrated the influence of the spillways. 32 different scenarios were defined which included the relatively large sea level rise and the changing discharge regime that is expected due to climate change. The impact of these scenarios on the water levels near New Orleans were analysed by the hydrodynamic model. Results showed that during high flows New Orleans will not be affected by varying discharge regimes, since the presence of the spillways ensures a constant discharge through the city. In contrary, sea level rise is expected to push water levels upwards. The effect of sea level rise will be noticeable even more than 470 km upstream. Climate change impacts necessitate a more frequent use of the spillways and opening strategies that are based on stages.

The Impact of Climate Change on States

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 115-132
Author(s):  
Łukasz Kułaga
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The increase in sea levels, as a result of climate change in territorial aspect will have a potential impact on two major issues – maritime zones and land territory. The latter goes into the heart of the theory of the state in international law as it requires us to confront the problem of complete and permanent disappearance of a State territory. When studying these processes, one should take into account the fundamental lack of appropriate precedents and analogies in international law, especially in the context of the extinction of the state, which could be used for guidance in this respect. The article analyses sea level rise impact on baselines and agreed maritime boundaries (in particular taking into account fundamental change of circumstances rule). Furthermore, the issue of submergence of the entire territory of a State is discussed taking into account the presumption of statehood, past examples of extinction of states and the importance of recognition in this respect.

scholarly journals Coastal Flooding in the Maldives Induced by Mean Sea-Level Rise and Wind-Waves: From Global to Local Coastal Modelling

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Amores ◽  
Marta Marcos ◽  
Rodrigo Pedreros ◽  
Gonéri Le Cozannet ◽  
Sophie Lecacheux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Wind Waves ◽  
Coastal Flooding ◽  
Major Drawback ◽  
Mean Sea Level

The Maldives, with one of the lowest average land elevations above present-day mean sea level, is among the world regions that will be the most impacted by mean sea-level rise and marine extreme events induced by climate change. Yet, the lack of regional and local information on marine drivers is a major drawback that coastal decision-makers face to anticipate the impacts of climate change along the Maldivian coastlines. In this study we focus on wind-waves, the main driver of extremes causing coastal flooding in the region. We dynamically downscale large-scale fields from global wave models, providing a valuable source of climate information along the coastlines with spatial resolution down to 500 m. This dataset serves to characterise the wave climate around the Maldives, with applications in regional development and land reclamation, and is also an essential input for local flood hazard modelling. We illustrate this with a case study of HA Hoarafushi, an atoll island where local topo-bathymetry is available. This island is exposed to the highest incoming waves in the archipelago and recently saw development of an airport island on its reef via land reclamation. Regional waves are propagated toward the shoreline using a phase-resolving model and coastal inundation is simulated under different mean sea-level rise conditions of up to 1 m above present-day mean sea level. The results are represented as risk maps with different hazard levels gathering inundation depth and speed, providing a clear evidence of the impacts of the sea level rise combined with extreme wave events.

scholarly journals Impact Assessment of Storm Surge and Climate Change-Enhanced Sea Level Rise on Atoll Nations: A Case Study of the Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrius Sabūnas ◽  
Takuya Miyashita ◽  
Nobuki Fukui ◽  
Tomoya Shimura ◽  
Nobuhito Mori
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Storm Surge ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Exposed Population ◽  
The Impact

The Pacific region consists of numerous Small Island Developing States (SIDS), one of the most vulnerable to flooding caused by compound effects of sea level rise (SLR) and storms. Nevertheless, individual studies regarding the impact assessment for SIDS, such as the low-lying Kiribati, remain scarce. This study assessed the impact of climate change-induced storm surge and SLR compounding effects on Tarawa, the most populous atoll of Kiribati, the largest coral atoll nation. It projected the impact using a combined dynamic surge and SLR model based on the IPCC AR5 RCP scenarios and 1/100 and 1/50 years return period storm events. This approach allows estimating the inundation scope and the consecutive exposed population by the end of the 21st century. The results of this study show that the pace of SLR is pivotal for Tarawa, as the sea level rise alone can claim more than 50% of the territory and pose a threat to over 60% of the population under the most intense greenhouse gas emissions scenario. Furthermore, most coasts on the lagoon side are particularly vulnerable. In contrast, the contribution of extreme events is generally minimal due to low wind speeds and the absence of tropical cyclones (TC). Despite this, it is clear the compound effects are critical and may inescapably bring drastic changes to the atoll nations by the end of this century. The impact assessment in this study draws attention to the social impact of climate change on SIDS, most notably atoll islands, and evaluates their adaptation potential.

scholarly journals Impact of Climate Change on Flood Hazard at Airports on Pacific Islands: A Case Study of Faleolo International Airport, Samoa

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-362
Author(s):  
Lianhui Wu ◽  
Kenji Taniguchi ◽  
Yoshimitsu Tajima ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Fringing Reef ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
International Airport ◽  
The Impact

Climate change is believed to have increased the intensity and frequency of heavy rainfall, and also to have caused sea level rises over this century and beyond. There is widespread concern that small-island nations are particularly vulnerable to increasing risk of inland flood due to such climate change. Understanding the impact of climate change on flood hazard is of great importance for these countries for the development of better protection and adaptation strategies. This study conducted a case study focusing on the impact of climate change on flood hazard at Faleolo International Airport (FIA), Samoa. FIA is a typical small islands airport, located on the lowland along the coast fronted by a fringing reef. Annual maximum daily rainfalls for different return periods were first estimated for the present and future climate around FIA. The estimated rainfalls were input as the forcing of a two-dimensional flood inundation model to investigate the flooding behavior and effectiveness of probable drainage systems. Results showed that a part of the runway can be inundated under heavy rainfall. Construction of drainage pipes significantly contributes to reducing the flood hazard level. Sensitivity analysis showed that the astronomical tide level has relatively little influence on the performance of the drainage system, while the combination of sea level rise and the sea level anomaly induced by stormy waves on the fringing reef could have non-negligible impacts on the drainage system. Location of the drainage pipe is also important to effectively mitigate flooding. The time-concentration of torrential rainfall may also significantly impact the overall performance of the drainage system.

The impact of climate change on sea level rise at Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah-Sarawak

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Ercan ◽  
Mohd Fauzi Bin Mohamad ◽  
M. Levent Kavvas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The Impact

Future scenarios of coastal flooding in north-east Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Giusti ◽  
Mario Martina ◽  
Clara Armaroli ◽  
Rui Figuereido ◽  
Francesco Dottori
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Coastal Flooding ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Subsidence Rate ◽  
North East

<p>Climate change and subsidence will likely have a significant role to increase coastal flooding risk. The socio-economic impact of inundations can be very relevant, and, in a context of climate change, it is necessary to develop effective methods for assessing coastal flood hazard suitable for large-scale studies. This work focuses on the application of a new modelling approach for mapping flooding hazard for future scenarios characterized by sea level rise and ground lowering due to subsidence. The flood intensity index approach (Iw, Dottori et al. 2015) will be used to quantitatively evaluate the flood extent. This recent methodology allows to create reliable scenarios with low computational costs. The effects of the storm surge are assessed using a base scenario corresponding to 100 years return period event. IW inputs are represented by water height set as storm level plus a part of wave height. The scenarios will be created by quantitatively combining IPCC sea level rise projections with subsidence data that will be compared to high-resolution digital terrain models. The study area of this work is the ∼205 km long coastal plain of Northern Italy, from Venice to Rimini, composed of low-lying sandy beaches and which includes the Po delta area. The coast is characterized by large portions of the territory below mean sea level and by geological features made by recent quaternary sediments which have a natural subsidence rate. In the past (1960-1980) the subsidence rate had an exceptional increase caused by excessive groundwater withdrawal for agricultural and industrial activities, human consumption and by natural gas extraction.</p>

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