Abstract
GeoCoast is an interactive, web-based tool that allows for the simulation of coastal flooding and sea level rise along the Mississippi Coast. GeoCoast is publicly accessible and allows users to visualize sea level rise impacts in both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) environments. In each of the viewers users can identify the impacts of sea level rise on critical infrastructure, such as government and medical facilities. GeoCoast has traffic routing capabilities allowing users to view these impacts on local road networks for various, user-defined, inundation levels. The base inundation simulation in GeoCoast uses a simple linear superposition model built on QL2 lidar data collected in 2015. This base model allows users to visualize water depth across the landscape (up to 15 feet) with a simple map slider. Additionally, data layers for buildings and roadways are visualized by depth of inundation based on the selected water depth. Other data sources for flood simulation include NOAA’s sea level rise data from the Digital Coast and storm surge/flooding from ADCIRC model runs. The ADCIRC runs include hind cast data for hurricane Katrina and other significant tropical systems affecting the northern Gulf of Mexico. Current efforts are focused on expanding data simulations to include results from the Effects of Sea Level Rise in the northern Gulf of Mexico project, as well as the geography to include other areas of the northern Gulf Coast.
