{"id":163529,"date":"2022-08-18T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T19:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=163529"},"modified":"2022-08-18T13:33:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T23:33:54","slug":"flooding-predictions-west-maui","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/08\/18\/flooding-predictions-west-maui\/","title":{"rendered":"New tool provides wave flooding predictions for West Maui"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Keonenui Bay. (Photo credit: Don McLeish)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new interactive mapping tool<\/a> provides predictions of coastal flooding in West Maui under various scenarios of sea-level rise and a range of wave events for community members, property owners, businesses, as well as state and county officials. The West Maui Wave-Driven Flooding With Sea Level Rise tool was created by researchers at the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System<\/a> (PacIOOS<\/abbr>) based at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa.<\/p>\n

The combination of high sea levels and large swells can result in significant coastal erosion, damage to infrastructure and properties, and land-based sedimentation that impairs coastal water quality. Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has experienced an increase in wave plus tide-driven flooding in recent years, and these events are expected to grow in numbers and duration due to sea-level rise and changing wave energies.<\/p>\n

\"big
Kahana Sunset wave action at seawall. (Photo credit: Carol Tuʻua)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Along with other planning tools, we hope these scenarios that are tailored for West Maui will be useful to inform land use planning,” said Tara Owens<\/strong>, co-investigator on the grant that funded this work and extension specialist with UH<\/abbr> Sea Grant College Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The public is invited to learn about this new tool on August 30, 4–5 p.m. Register online<\/a> to receive log-in information.<\/p>\n

Factors impacting West Maui<\/h2>\n

The water level—and the associated risk of coastal flooding—in West Maui is impacted by several factors that are included in the flooding product: daily tidal cycles, long-term sea-level rise, moderate to large wave events, and the slowly-oscillating ocean sea level height around Maui (caused in part by El Niño). PacIOOS<\/abbr>, based at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a>, created the new West Maui Wave-Driven Flooding With Sea Level Rise tool by adopting a next-generation modeling approach to combine these factors and augment the annual high wave flooding model represented in the State of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Sea Level Rise Viewer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to chronic coastal erosion leading to severe damage of properties, wave overtopping and flooding also pose a major safety concern to infrastructure, in particular to Honoapiʻilani<\/span> Highway, the major access corridor to West Maui.<\/p>\n

“Coastal managers and planners in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> rely on science-based information that can support decision making,” said County of Maui Coastal Planner Jim Buika. “This scenario-based tool is powerful because it is locally specific and easy to use. It can guide us to promote sustainable land use and environmental protection.”<\/p>\n

The wave flooding tool and a related forecast of coastal flooding for the upcoming six days<\/a> in West Maui were developed by PacIOOS<\/abbr> through a collaborative effort led by the Coastal Hazards Group in the Department of Oceanography at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa, and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant “Enhanced Community Resilience With Real-Time Notifications of Hazardous Wave-Driven Flooding and Erosion Events<\/a>” (award #NA17NOS4730143).<\/p>\n

–By Marcie Grabowski<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new interactive mapping tool created by researchers at PacIOOS<\/abbr> provides West Maui with predictions of coastal flooding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[93,801,1467,1363,1314,238,92,635,73,9,438],"class_list":["post-163529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-climate-change","tag-coastal-erosion","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-pacific-islands-ocean-observing-system","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-sea-grant-college-program","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-sea-grant","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t