Along the Pacific coastline, which is progressively being impacted by storm surges, sea level rise, and erosion owing to climate change, are the majority of California’s population and its busiest airports. Sea levels along the shore are predicted to rise by up to 8 inches over the next 30 years. All of these factors will result in more widespread and frequent flooding, which will have an effect on vital infrastructure including roads, power plants, and airports.
In the next 20 to 40 years, anticipated floods could cause operational disruptions at 39 out of 43 California coastal airports, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. In Tampa, Florida, from December 4–8, Sarah Lindbergh of the University of California, Berkeley, will present the results of her team’s research.
A statewide evaluation of the vulnerability of California’s airport infrastructure to anticipated coastal flooding (due to storm surge and sea level rise) up to the year 2100 was carried out by Lindbergh and her colleagues at UC Berkeley. To address the importance of collaborative climate adaptation, their study combines a novel assessment of airport risk to coastal flooding with a policy review of over 100 state legislation and planning papers.
The study of flooding exposure is the first of its type, employing geospatial techniques to examine every airport’s whole interconnected infrastructure, including its road access, ground-based navigation, and communications systems, in addition to the perimeter. According to Lindbergh, “it’s crucial to understand that critical assets for airport operations may be located outside airport limits.”
According to the estimate, 39 out of 43 public coastal airports in California will have assets subject to coastal flooding by 2100. (This number is far greater than conventional risk assessments, which have solely taken into account assets inside an airport’s boundaries.) Although we are unsure of the impact of these recently discovered exposures, Lindbergh says, “We were astonished to realize that the majority of the airport assets could experience a flooding event sooner than 2100tain the next 20 years.”
The runways and taxiways at 16 of the 39 airports are exposed assets within their boundaries, while the assets outside their authority (such as road access to the airport and navigation systems) are vulnerable to flooding at the remaining 23 airports.The top five busiest airports in the world, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), are on the list.
Researchers also looked at the risk transfer from airport assets that are flooding nine of the state’s major multimodal, interregional transportation corridors (which include connected highways and railways). Delays, traffic, and cancellations could have an impact on both the movement of goods and people. In their report, important airports within these transportation corridors are identified as needing to be given priority for adaptation, particularly those in the San Francisco Bay—Central Valley—Los Angeles corridor (including San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport) and Murray Field Airport in Eureka in the San Francisco Bay—North Coast transportation corridor.
According to the team’s analysis of state policies, the perimeters of an airport are mostly the focus of market and regulatory incentives for airport infrastructure (maintenance, improvement, and replacement). This restricts the ability of many infrastructure stakeholders to comprehend and respond to their shared vulnerability to risks like coastal flooding. According to Lindbergh, “most policies are still being developed to reduce risk and encourage adaptation at the single asset level, for instance, one airport at a time.”
She contends, along with her coworkers, that assessing the vulnerability of interconnected infrastructure might help guide state-level policies that encourage coordinated climate adaptation planning. According to Lindbergh, “Our study challenges people to think beyond their borders and jurisdictions.”
She will be speaking on Monday, December 5th at 3:30 as part of a session on “Risk from Extreme Storm Events” and will discuss “Cross-sectoral and Multiscalar Exposure Assessment to Advance Climate Adaptation Policy: The Case of Future Coastal Flooding of California’s Airports.”
