We are combining ocean, engineering, ecologic, social, and economic modeling to provide a high-resolution, rigorous, spatially-explicit valuation of the coastal flood protection benefits provided by coral reefs and the cost effectiveness of reef restoration for enhancing those benefits.
The Problem
Coastal flooding and erosion from extreme weather events affect thousands of vulnerable coastal communities. The impacts of coastal flooding are predicted to worsen during this century owing to population growth and climate change. There is an urgent need to develop better risk reduction and adaptation strategies to reduce coastal flooding and associated hazards. There is growing national recognition of the role of natural and nature-based solutions to address coastal risks. The biggest limitation to advancing the use of natural defenses in coastal management, however, is the lack of quantitative assessments of their engineering performance and economic benefits. Coral reefs, in particular, can substantially reduce coastal flooding and erosion by dissipating as much as 97 percent of incident wave energy. Reefs function like low-crested breakwaters, with hydrodynamic behavior well characterized by coastal engineering models. Indeed, the need for approaches that use state-of-the-art hydrodynamic and economic models to quantify risk reduction in monetary terms has been widely acknowledged and, thus far, unaddressed, particularly at regional scales. There are currently no comprehensive, high-resolution maps of the benefits or cost effectiveness of coral reef restoration for coastal flood risk reduction. Without this information, it is not possible for Federal, State, Territorial, and local governments and communities to include coral reef restoration in flood recovery and mitigation efforts.
Our Approach
We are combining hydrodynamic, coastal engineering, geospatial, social, and economic modeling to provide a high-resolution, rigorous, spatially explicit valuation of the coastal flood protection benefits provided by coral reefs at present across, and the cost effectiveness of reef restoration for enhancing those benefits. Our risk-based methods follow probabilistic risk assessment approaches used by the insurance industry and by FEMA and NOAA for the quantification of baseline risk and risk-reduction measures. We are assessing the benefits provided by reefs under present conditions and for different coral reef restoration scenarios. The restoration scenarios cover the range of risk reduction effects that restoration projects could provide, and therefore can pinpoint sites where restoration will be most beneficial and/or cost-effective. We are calculating spatially explicit values of the cost effectiveness of coral reef restoration and making them available in maps through a widely used, web-based, interactive, online decision-support tool.
For more information, see:
“The Value of U.S. Coral Reefs for Risk Reduction” and
Read the featured news article in Frontiers, “Coral reef restorations can be optimized to reduce flood risk.”
Please also see the associated efforts on the Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies (CREST) Project website:
Learn more about our related studies.
Quantifying Flood Risk and Reef Risk Reduction Benefits in Florida and Puerto Rico: The Consequences of Hurricane Damage, Long-term Degradation, and Restoration Opportunities
The Value of U.S. Coral Reefs for Risk Reduction
Summary of the report, “Rigorously valuing the role of U.S. coral reefs in coastal hazard risk reduction”
Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies (CREST)
Coral Reef Seafloor Erosion and Coastal Hazards
- Overview
We are combining ocean, engineering, ecologic, social, and economic modeling to provide a high-resolution, rigorous, spatially-explicit valuation of the coastal flood protection benefits provided by coral reefs and the cost effectiveness of reef restoration for enhancing those benefits.
The Problem
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Waikīkī from atop Diamond Head. Photo credit: Zetong Li on Unsplash Coastal flooding and erosion from extreme weather events affect thousands of vulnerable coastal communities. The impacts of coastal flooding are predicted to worsen during this century owing to population growth and climate change. There is an urgent need to develop better risk reduction and adaptation strategies to reduce coastal flooding and associated hazards. There is growing national recognition of the role of natural and nature-based solutions to address coastal risks. The biggest limitation to advancing the use of natural defenses in coastal management, however, is the lack of quantitative assessments of their engineering performance and economic benefits. Coral reefs, in particular, can substantially reduce coastal flooding and erosion by dissipating as much as 97 percent of incident wave energy. Reefs function like low-crested breakwaters, with hydrodynamic behavior well characterized by coastal engineering models. Indeed, the need for approaches that use state-of-the-art hydrodynamic and economic models to quantify risk reduction in monetary terms has been widely acknowledged and, thus far, unaddressed, particularly at regional scales. There are currently no comprehensive, high-resolution maps of the benefits or cost effectiveness of coral reef restoration for coastal flood risk reduction. Without this information, it is not possible for Federal, State, Territorial, and local governments and communities to include coral reef restoration in flood recovery and mitigation efforts.
Our Approach
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Map showing the simulated flooding for a 100-year storm event with (blue) and without (red) coral reefs in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The red area thus represents the area protected by coral reefs. We are combining hydrodynamic, coastal engineering, geospatial, social, and economic modeling to provide a high-resolution, rigorous, spatially explicit valuation of the coastal flood protection benefits provided by coral reefs at present across, and the cost effectiveness of reef restoration for enhancing those benefits. Our risk-based methods follow probabilistic risk assessment approaches used by the insurance industry and by FEMA and NOAA for the quantification of baseline risk and risk-reduction measures. We are assessing the benefits provided by reefs under present conditions and for different coral reef restoration scenarios. The restoration scenarios cover the range of risk reduction effects that restoration projects could provide, and therefore can pinpoint sites where restoration will be most beneficial and/or cost-effective. We are calculating spatially explicit values of the cost effectiveness of coral reef restoration and making them available in maps through a widely used, web-based, interactive, online decision-support tool.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Map displaying the distribution of total economic losses (direct building damages and indirect economic disruption) in the U.S. that are prevented from flooding by coral reefs annually. In total, the annual coastal flooding risk reduction benefits provided by U.S. coral reefs exceed $1.8 billion. For more information, see:
“The Value of U.S. Coral Reefs for Risk Reduction” and
Read the featured news article in Frontiers, “Coral reef restorations can be optimized to reduce flood risk.”
Please also see the associated efforts on the Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies (CREST) Project website:
- Science
Learn more about our related studies.
Quantifying Flood Risk and Reef Risk Reduction Benefits in Florida and Puerto Rico: The Consequences of Hurricane Damage, Long-term Degradation, and Restoration Opportunities
Coastal flooding and erosion from extreme weather events affect thousands of vulnerable coastal communities; the impacts of coastal flooding are predicted to worsen during this century because of population growth and climate change. Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 were particularly devasting to humans and natural communities. The coral reefs off the State of Florida and the Commonwealth of...The Value of U.S. Coral Reefs for Risk Reduction
Summary of the report, “Rigorously valuing the role of U.S. coral reefs in coastal hazard risk reduction”
Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies (CREST)
The specific objectives of this project are to identify and describe the processes that are important in determining rates of coral-reef construction. How quickly the skeletons of calcifying organisms accumulate to form massive barrier-reef structure is determined by processes of both construction (how fast organisms grow and reproduce) and destruction (how fast reefs break down by mechanical...Coral Reef Seafloor Erosion and Coastal Hazards
Synchronized field work focused on geochemistry, geology, and metabolic processes overlaid on a habitat map of an entire reef to produce a synoptic overview of reef processes that contribute to carbonate precipitation and dissolution. - Data
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