Bayside Adapts: Defining Climate Change Scenarios and Identifying Data Gaps
For decades flooding during high tide has been an on-going problem in Portland’s low-lying Bayside neighborhood. The problem is exacerbated during heavy rain or storm surge events. As sea level continues rise, the frequency of flood days is also expected to increase.Â
Â
To prepare the city for development and implementation of a flexible climate change adaptation plan, RPS completed a climate change planning assessment and data gaps analysis targeting precipitation, sea level rise, and storm surge flooding scenarios. Predicting the impact of these changes allows the City to target adaptation strategies which will mitigate both current and future flooding. Â
Key Details
Project Name
Bayside Adapts:Â Defining Climate Change Scenarios and Identifying Data Gaps
Client
Woodard and Curran
Sectors
- Residential
- Commercial and retailÂ
- Leisure and tourism
- Roads
- Flooding and drainage
- Information and telecommunications
Location
- Portland, Maine, USA
Services Provided
- Sustainability and climate resilience Â
- Data management and analysisÂ
- Spatial intelligence and GISÂ
- Design criteria studies
Challenge
Adaptation planning requires accounting for future environmental conditions such as water levels and precipitation rates.  Planners can no longer rely on historical data because climate change is impacting sea levels and storms.  Investing in solutions for building resilience is difficult because how conditions will change in the future is uncertain.
Solution
Future lives and livelihoods will be impacted by the decisions we make now, therefore it is critical that those decisions be informed by the best available information. RPS believes in the power of data to drive science-based decision-making and underpin innovative solutions to improve resilience.Â
RPS supported the City of Portland by: Â
- Analysing documented flood events to determine the combinations of tidal, surge, and precipitation conditions that cause flooding in the neighborhoodÂ
- Defining sea level rise, storm surge, and precipitation scenarios for a variety of future time horizonsÂ
- Using the best available data for defining the impacts of these scenarios in BaysideÂ
- Identifying deficiencies in available data and defining gaps to be filled Â