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Background Information
Climate trends within recent years have proven to show cause for great concern. From decreases in the area of Arctic sea ice the size of North Carolina each year, to increases in hurricane storm number, size, strength and intensity. Scientists are finding increases in phenomena that are dangerous to human populations, with one of the most impactful and devastating being hurricanes.
Hurricane Damages
Of all the damages hurricanes cause, flooding is the most damaging. Flooding has the potential to ruin infrastructure and collapse houses, carry hazardous materials into residential areas, and trap people within their homes during a storm. Flooding from storm surges is the leading cause of death when it comes to hurricanes in the United States. Even after the water recedes, houses and other infrastructure pose the risk of mold, mildew, and other bacterial growth hazardous to human health.
Vulnerable Communities
Several areas throughout the world experience hurricanes or tropical storms. There are several factors that determine a Vulnerable community, including proximity to the water, current infrastructure, and other factors. A study conducted within North Carolina found that low income schools in which students were predominantly Black had twice the risk of flooding compared to a non-low-income school in which a majority of students were not Black. Another study conducted in India found that "the composite vulnerability index based analysis revealed that of the total villages (1063) located in SBR; nearly half of the villages are highly and very highly vulnerable with least capacity to cope with any kind of extreme event” (Sahana, Sajjad 2018).
How GIS Can Help
One of the greatest mititgations to flooding is coral reefs. Corals prevent and limit storm surge and flooding by 60-70 feet. This may sound insignificant but when it comes to the distance flood water travels it can make a significant impact. GIS can be used to map shorelines and plan areas to be used for aritficial reefs, which will help mititgate flooding and general storm surges. The figure to the left shows what flooding would look like without coral reefs in red, and what flooding patterns would be like with coral reefs in blue. The evidence is clear that the usage of coral reefs would mititgate flooding.
Theoretical Framework
Objective: To use GIS data and software to protect vulnerable populations from hurricane impacts. GIS software is a strong tool used by scientists to collect information about the geography of certain areas. This information can be used to solve a large number of problems, and properly employed can provide answers to this objective.
Problem: There are several marginalized and vulnerable communities that find themselves at a higher risk of negative effects due to hurricanes. Literature found throughout this research supports that hurricane intensity will continue to grow, rainfall will increase, along with dozens of other factors. Additionally technological advances especially the usage of GIS could prove to be an incredibly effective method when it comes to determining potential ways of mitigation and protection to these communities.
Research Question: How can GIS be effectively employed in order to characterize and then protect communities vulnerable to hurricanes? This research question hopes to answer these other questions as well, and create the framework for an updated response to hurricanes, while simultaneously updating society.
Methods and Justification
This research was conducted primarily through analysis of previously conducted research, focusing predominately on case studies. This was done in order to create a list of methods that could be implemented in order to further assist and protect populations vulnerable to hurricane effects. What was first analyzed is what would most affect these populations, and what could be done about it. What first needed to be determined were the most vulnerable populations. Within the United States hurricane response, the most vulnerable populations were determined to be the elderly population, and the African American population. This was supported by findings of increased mortality and other complications for these two populations as a result of hurricanes through two case studies. This was necessary information, as those more negatively affected should be prioritized within the response. What was next determined was the greatest threat to these populations from hurricanes. The largest hazard was determined to be flooding. Increased flooding from hurricanes has caused increased damages, and as stated in the literature above, does not affect all populations the same for various reasons. The next step was to determine what could be done to mitigate flooding in these high risk areas. As suggested above, usage of artificial reefs provides immediate impact on flood levels. Additionally, mapping where severe flooding occurs and tracking the trends over time will prevent the rebuild of infrastructure within those areas and spark the idea to move infrastructure away from high risk areas. Records and data of flood numbers can be compiled into files, these files can then be inputted into a GIS software, which will then be able to generate a map of the inputted data. This data can then be compared to data from previous years, other storms, and hundreds of different data categories. These categories can be compared onto maps to illustrate the effects of flooding with or without reefs. A map compiled of flood data averages can show where the highest area of flooding has taken place on average, and prioritize response. Technologies can also be employed to map where powerlines run, and where high danger areas exist as a result of downed powerlines or other environmental hazards. This was determined to be useful through several references which are listed below.
References
Altaweel, M. (2023b, July 16). Predicting and assessing the impact of Hurricanes with GIS. GIS Lounge. https://www.gislounge.com/predicting-assessing-impact-hurricanes-gis
Altaweel, M. (2023, July 5). Using GIS to improve hurricane evacuation and preparedness. GIS Lounge. https://www.gislounge.com/gis-and-hurricane-evacuation-and-preparedness
Colbert, A. (2022, June 1). A Force of Nature: Hurricanes in a Changing Climate. Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet; NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3184/a-force-of-nature-hurricanes-in-a-changing-climate/
Guidry, V. T., & Margolis, L. H. (2005). Unequal respiratory health risk: Using GIS to explore hurricane-related flooding of schools in Eastern North Carolina. Environmental Research, 98(3), 383–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2004.10.007
Lindsey, R., & Scott, M. (2020, September 8). Climate Change: Arctic sea ice summer minimum | NOAA Climate.gov. Www.climate.gov. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-arctic-sea-ice-summer-minimum
Sahana, M., & Sajjad, H. (2019). Vulnerability to storm surge flood using remote sensing and GIS techniques: A study on Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, India. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 13, 106–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2018.10.008
Taramelli, A., Melelli, L., Pasqui, M., & Sorichetta, A. (2010). Modeling risk hurricane elements in potentially affected areas by a GIS system. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 1(4), 349–373. https://doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2010.532972
Role of Reefs in Coastal Protection | U.S. Geological Survey. (n.d.). Www.usgs.gov. https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pcmsc/science/role-reefs-coastal-protection
Sakib, N., Hyer, K., Dobbs, D., Peterson, L., Jester, D. J., Kong, N., & Li, M. (2022). A GIS enhanced data analytics approach for predicting nursing home hurricane evacuation response. Health information science and systems, 10(1), 28. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.1007/s13755-022-00190-y
Z. Xu and S. Xiong, "Aerial Disaster Relief Response System Based on GIS," 2019 2nd International Conference on Information Systems and Computer Aided Education (ICISCAE), Dalian, China, 2019, pp. 516-520, doi: 10.1109/ICISCAE48440.2019.221687.
Perugini, S., & Bodzin, A. M. (2020). Using Web-Based GIS to Assess Students’ Geospatial Knowledge of Hurricanes and Spatial Habits of Mind. Journal of Geography, 119(2), 63–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221341.2019.1710764
Kar, A., Wan, N., Cova, T. J., Wang, H., & Lizotte, S. L. (2022). Using GIS to Understand the Influence of Hurricane Harvey on Spatial Access to Primary Care. Risk Analysis: An International Journal, 42(4), 896–911.
Royer, P. D., Du, W., & Schneider, K. (2022). Rapid Evaluation and Response to Impacts on Critical End-Use Loads Following Natural Hazard-Driven Power Outages: A Modular and Responsive Geospatial Technology. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 13(3), 415–434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-022-00413-6
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