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Assessing the relevance of wetlands for storm surge protection: a coupled hydrodynamic and geospatial framework

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Abstract

The expectation that wetlands can protect coastal communities has been a major topic in the effort to evaluate innovative methods of mitigating coastal impacts from storm surge. Recent investigations have shown that there is a potential flood mitigation benefit to be gained from the presence of marshes. Though the extent of that benefit is not yet clearly defined, prioritizing wetland systems for coastal protection requires a consideration of the interactions between communities at risk of storm surge damage and wetland areas of sufficient spatial scales to reliably attenuate storm surge. Here, a framework is proposed for geospatial characterization of these interactions based on numerical model results and is applied to Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay region. Spatial identification of Chesapeake Bay wetlands was derived from four nationally available datasets (National Wetland Inventory, National Land Cover Dataset, Coastal Change Analysis Program, and NOAA’s Wetland Potential database). Maps of maximum storm tides for four historical storms were generated based on a coupled hydrodynamic wave model (ADCIRC–SWAN), validated for those storms with a mean root mean square error of 0.44 m. Population information was extracted from US Census block data in FEMA’s HAZUS Multi-Hazard geodatabase. Results from geospatial analysis of the relationships between wetland land cover, inundation, and population were used to identify where interactions with coastal populations are relevant for the study area when spatial limitations are considered. Approximately 1160 sq. km of wetlands were inundated by all four storms. Total population present in a range of proximities (200, 400, and 600 m) to flooded wetlands was used as a metric to evaluate the effect of a range of limitations on wetland size (5–50 sq. km) on potential population protected. A high level of uncertainty was seen due to wetland dataset selection (number of standard deviations from the mean ranged from 0.04 to 1.37), owing to high variability in spatial delineation/configuration of wetlands. Applying the framework to the Virginia Chesapeake Bay region yields an index of potential protection based on spatial scale limitations. For example, such an evaluation for wetlands meeting the 5 sq. km limitation (disregarding wetlands <5 sq. km) indicates that the presence of wetlands offers a potential protection for 3.4 % of the population. An application of the index on a more local scale indicates that the interaction of the flooded wetlands with more populated localities is such that the coastal marshes in Hampton Roads and Gloucester may offer protection to nearby coastal communities. This framework demonstrates that effective surge protection from wetlands and marshes is related to a combination of the incidence of storm surge inundation, proximity to coastal communities, and the relationship of sufficient spatial scales for surge attenuation.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES-1331399. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This material is also based upon work supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Department of the Interior under Grant No. 43932. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government or the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and its funding sources. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government, or the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation or its funding sources. This research was also supported by the Thomas F. and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust, Bank of America, Trustee. This research also benefited from equipment funded by the Dominion Higher Education Partnership. This work used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by National Science Foundation Grant Number ACI-1053575. The authors acknowledge the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin for providing HPC resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper (http://www.tacc.utexas.edu). This study was further supported by ARGO, a research computing cluster provided by the Office of Research Computing at George Mason University, VA (http://orc.gmu.edu).

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  1. Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MS 6C1, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Jana Haddad, Seth Lawler & Celso M. Ferreira

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  1. Jana Haddad
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Correspondence to Jana Haddad.

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Haddad, J., Lawler, S. & Ferreira, C.M. Assessing the relevance of wetlands for storm surge protection: a coupled hydrodynamic and geospatial framework. Nat Hazards 80, 839–861 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2000-7

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