NSF Award
2435041
By the end of this century, sea level is expected to rise by one meter due to climate change and inundate coastal areas that are home to millions of people in the United States. As sea levels rise, groundwater levels will also rise, and groundwater salinities will increase, causing damage to subsurface infrastructures such as tunnels, building foundations, and stormwater and sewer systems. Until now, coastal risk research has largely excluded groundwater-related hazards because they are harder to observe than floods that occur above ground. The long-term vision for this project is to advance new methods for mapping risks to subsurface infrastructure in coastal communities due to sea level rise. The project will co-develop new approaches for assessing exposure and vulnerability to shallow groundwater hazards so that communities can use maps to understand potential damage from rising and salinizing groundwater and make informed decisions about how to maintain or surrender subsurface infrastructure. One important outcome of this planning proposal will be the formation of a Boston area coalition of scientists and community leaders who are concerned about risks to subsurface infrastructure from sea level rise that will collaborate on new risk assessment methods. The coalition will be engaged in conversations about adaptation pathways for mitigating the effects of sea level rise. The activities and products from this planning project will catalyze a larger-scale proposal to extend risk assessment methods to new infrastructure categories and coastal communities throughout the United States. A postdoctoral scientist and PhD student will be mentored in a highly interdisciplinary endeavor that will generate new knowledge at the interface of geoscience, engineering, economics, and urban planning.<br/><br/>This pilot-scale effort will focus on a specific subsurface asset category, such as stormwater and sewer systems, and apply workflows to at least two distinct testbed communities in the Boston area, which encompasses the densely urbanized shoreline of Boston Harbor and a diverse set of ex-urban communities. One anticipated product will be pilot hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and impact (or risk) maps. The project will also generate a clearer picture of challenges to upscaling or transferring the workflow to other asset categories and communities. Lastly, a workshop will be convened where prototype risk maps will be used to engage community leaders in adaptation planning conversations to mitigate the impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities. These experiences will inform a future proposal to develop risk maps for new geographic areas and engage communities in adaptation planning.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
