New flood map displays areas impacted by sea level rise

A new online tool created by University researchers will help inform the public about critical sea level increases and flooding hazards in New Jersey.

Following years of study accompanied by surveys and testing which began in 2009, University researchers released the user-friendly website www.njfloodmapper.org, said Lisa Auermuller, watershed and outreach coordinator for the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The creators of the website concentrated on applying digital map-making to site-specific information about landscapes to help town and county decision-makers, said Richard Lathrop Jr., director of Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis.    

Lathrop, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, said the interactive website’s visualization tools illustrate the impact of sea level rises from 1 to 6 feet on user-selected areas in the state.

The site also demonstrates the confidence level, or amount of certainty, in the mapping itself for a particular area in relation to expected flooding, he said.

Populations most vulnerable to flooding were also of great importance to the study, Lathrop said. The creators examined factors including the socioeconomic status and mobility of age groups.

He said they incorporated the locations of facilities such as schools, fire stations and hospitals in their maps.  

Street-level views of selected locations are also available on the website, he said. These photos simulate what different sea level would look like on the ground.

Lathrop said the locations selected were based on landmarks that had meaning to the surrounding community and provided valuable perspectives.  

“Although the public is not our target audience, [I believe] there is real value in the public understanding the risk and vulnerability [associated with sea level rise and flooding hazards],” Auermuller said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology and Sustainable Jersey funded the project, among others, Lathrop said.

Together with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Service Center, Lathrop and his partners designed the site with their target audiences in mind, Auermuller said.

His foundation, Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, focuses on geographic information systems.

“When it comes to GIS … [Lathrop] is a valuable [specialist],” said Martha Maxwell-Doyle, project coordinator at the Barnegat Bay Partnership.

The project was a long-term planning effort and a starting point for the application of this particular technology, Lathrop said. His initial expectations for this project have been met, and what remains to be seen is how the website is used.

The site will serve as a platform for further information to be added. Although interested in adding more functionality and data, Lathrop said they would like to keep it simple, but still adapt it to meet everyone’s needs.

Auermuller, who has worked at the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve for 11 years, said the project took as long as it did for a few reasons.

Before project development could begin, the team of researchers needed to wait for the U.S. Geological Survey to issue a dataset, she said.

Without this data, it would not be possible to accurately predict where and how water would travel above New Jersey’s topography, said Auermuller.

The team then created website prototypes during the development process, she said, and had expected customers test the prototype versions for user-friendliness in classrooms in a process they referred to as “quester testing”.

“We worked with focus groups to be able to see how people interact with the technology we created … it’s refreshing,” Lathrop said. “It gives me a better understanding of people’s insight and understanding of maps, and the excitement they get.”

Auermuller said she planned and managed discussions with municipal and county-level officials, town workers and planning boards to collect and implement their opinions.

“Looking back at what happened during Hurricane Sandy, the community’s realized that you cannot be over-prepared,” said Auermuller.

Lathrop said nothing could replace this focus-group input because the feedback offered solutions on how to display data in a fashion that makes sense to users.

How to share this essential information with those responsible for making decisions such as emergency evacuations, green-conscious building and rebuilding plans is another primary goal of this project, said Lathrop.

“The [New Jersey] coast is a very dynamic environment,” said Lathrop. “Long-term sustainability of human residence, as well as environmental infrastructure of the New Jersey coast [are also key objectives].”

Maxwell-Doyle said her’s and Auermuller’s area of study overlap, and they worked closely together on the technical side of this sea-level mapper website as well as on other projects including climate adaption tools.

She said the website is sophisticated, but easy to use and an excellent resource with many applications.

Because local mitigation plans must be updated and resubmitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for approval every five years, the goal of the website is helping community decision-makers, she said.

Auermuller said her experience working with the community was rewarding. She learned about the needs of the community and working with the project team to design a helpful website.

“It’s been a long time coming, but [it’s been an] important process and I’m glad it’s live,” she said.