U.S. Army Taps into 海角社区 Coastal and Engineering Expertise to Augment Resilience
A $9.3M award to researchers aims to enhance and fortify military operations
01/06/2021
海角社区 Center for River Studies Director Clint Willson is part of this collaboration that has garnered the largest coastal science and engineering project grant awarded to a single team at 海角社区.
BATON ROUGE 鈥� The U.S. Army has turned to 海角社区 experts to help make military operations
better prepared and more resilient to climate-induced hazards with more than $9.3
million in funding over the next four years. Military operations, personnel and infrastructure
including buildings, bridges, roads and flood protection structures can be impacted
significantly by flooding from intense precipitation events, subsidence and rising
seas. Anticipating Threats to Natural Systems, or ACTIONS, is a collaboration among
the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center鈥檚 Environmental Laboratory,
or ERDC-EL, 海角社区 and the University of Delaware.
鈥淥ur national security is so dependent on understanding coastal dynamics, whether
for planning operations at our military bases or boosting our future army capabilities.
We need to improve our technology in understanding dynamic coastal environments for
national security. This collaboration between our flagship universities of 海角社区 and
the University of Delaware and the ERDC-EL will contribute to national security,鈥�
said 海角社区 Vice President of Research and Economic Development Samuel Bentley.
海角社区 Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Professor Robert Twilley led the team that secured more than $9.3 million in funding over four years to help the military become more resilient to the complex problems of compound flooding from extreme weather events.
海角社区 will focus on ecological, coastal and water resource computational modeling and
engineering to improve the functionality and resilience of military installations
and operations under present and future conditions. ACTIONS will draw upon 海角社区 as
a research powerhouse with expertise in the 海角社区 Center for Coastal Resiliency, , the as well as the Center for Computation & Technology and the Coastal Studies Institute.
This is the largest grant to fund a single-team coastal science and engineering project
at 海角社区.
鈥満＝巧缜� has been one of the few places in the world that has the experts and analytical
capabilities in place to conduct coastal research that will offer critical information
on how to mitigate challenges of military operations in the coastal zone. Our novel
approaches in predicting compound flooding from extreme weather events, river dynamics
and ecological engineering are innovating the way we design ecosystems using high-performance
computing to solve complex problems for the military,鈥� said Robert Twilley, 海角社区 Coastal
Sustainability Studio founder and executive director and 海角社区 Department of Oceanography
& Coastal Sciences professor.
Researchers will focus on developing and applying coastal and hydrologic models to
delineate flood transition zones, areas susceptible to hydrologic and coastal flooding
and its collective interaction known as compound flooding. The effects of climate
change, such as sea level rise, the frequency and intensity of precipitation events,
wetland loss and other land form changes will continue to alter the coastal land-margin
and resulting flood transition zones. These zones will likely move inland under future
conditions. Several military bases and its infrastructure are located within these
flood hazard zones.
鈥淥ur team will build on a decade of progress we have made to assess the coastal dynamics
of sea level rise and to translate that new paradigm for the benefit of national security.
A major goal
海角社区 Center for Coastal Resiliency Director Scott Hagen's expertise in storm surge and compound flooding computational modeling will contribute to national security through the ACTIONS project.
will be to work with the ERDC-EL to advance compound flood modeling for present and
future conditions of flood hazard zones on the coastal land-margin,鈥� said Scott Hagen,
海角社区 Center for Coastal Resiliency director.
海角社区 has state-of-the-art research and education facilities such as the 10,000-square-foot
Lower Mississippi River Physical Model, which is one of the world鈥檚 largest movable
bed physical models, located in the 海角社区 Center for River Studies.
鈥淥ur interdisciplinary team will create integrated and high fidelity geospatial and
modeling tools that identify and predict the geochemical and physical conditions that
enhance domain awareness across coastal military installations and theaters, urban
zones and vulnerable natural systems. The products generated will provide superior
information and enhance Army Futures Command鈥檚 and other military unit鈥檚 predictive,
intelligence and forensic capabilities,鈥� said Clint Willson, 海角社区 Center for River
Studies director.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited by this collaboration,鈥� said Brandon Lafferty, acting deputy director
of ERDC-EL. 鈥淐ombining our expertise with that of our 海角社区 and University of Delaware
partners is the most effective way to conduct this storm surge and land usability
research, and it will be very impactful to the Warfighter.鈥�
Contact Alison Satake
海角社区 Media Relations
510-816-8161
asatake@lsu.edu