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Title:

Impacts of Vertical Data Accuracy on Estimating the Effects of Sea Level Rise on Local Highway Infrastructure

Accession Number:

01154533

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Recent studies indicate that climate change will severely threaten our transportation system. As one of the most obvious and direct impacts of climate change, sea level rise is a major concern to the coastal community, especially in regard to transportation infrastructure. Intent to help transportation planners and engineers better understand the impacts of sea level increase, this study uses both Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to estimate the inundation possibilities of transportation infrastructure under the 2050 worst sea level increase scenario. Unlike previous studies, this paper explores how the vertical accuracy of the terrain data influences the results of sea level increase¡¯s impact analysis, an important issue which has not been previously studied. The results show that the sample road segment in Pensacola, Florida is estimated to have a 100% inundation possibility using LiDAR data and a 36.6% inundation possibility using DEM data. The results demonstrate that, due to the high vertical accuracy, LiDAR data are more accurate in identifying the crucial locations of vulnerable road segments than DEM data are. The calculated inundation possibility will help local planners to prioritize crucial infrastructure against the predicted increase in sea level. The methodology used in this paper can also be generalized for use in other regions, providing a procedure for using LiDAR data to estimate sea level rise or other flooding impact on crucial transportation infrastructure.

Monograph Accession #:

01147878

Report/Paper Numbers:

10-3961

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Shen, Suwan
Peng, Zhong-Ren
Wang, Zun
Salokhe, Hemant

Pagination:

13p

Publication Date:

2010

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2010-1-10 to 2010-1-14
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

DVD

Features:

Figures (3) ; Maps (3) ; References (14) ; Tables (2)

Geographic Terms:

Pensacola (Florida)

Subject Areas:

Energy; Environment; Highways; I15: Environment; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2010 Paper #10-3961

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Jan 25 2010 12:01PM