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The summary report and full technical report are now available online!
Gaido-Lasserre, C., McNulty, V.P., Storlazzi, C.D., Reguero, B.G., Perez, D., Fogg, S., Ward, J., Cumming, K.A, Schill, S.R., Jarvis, C, Beck, M.W. 2024, Quantifying the Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction Benefits of Coral Reef Restoration in the U.S. Virgin Islands. UCSC Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, Santa Cruz, CA. https://doi.org/10.48330/E2KW29
Coastal protection benefits of reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands were modelled under several reef scenarios and storm scenarios to inform restoration planning for hazard mitigation and climate adaptation. The scenarios most relevant to coral reef restoration planning are available in the Coastal Resilience decision support tool.
Reef scenarios were adjusted in the modelling based on the wave friction coefficients associated with different ranges of live coral cover and the changes in reef height assumed under these conditions. Reef height had a more significant impact on flood reduction results that wave friction coefficients.
Annual expected benefits from reefs for flood protection represents the predicted flooding avoided to buildings, people, and infrastructure by restoring coral reefs. It is an annualized benefit of the role of reefs in flood reduction that considers local factors such as reef condition, asset distribution, and storm frequency. The annual expected benefit (AEB) of a given scenario is the different in annual expected damages (AED) under that scenario vs. the baseline scenario. These values are calculated in terms of people and built capital (USD). Annual expected damages are the frequency-weighted sum of damages for the full range of possible damaging flood events and is a measure of what might be expected to occur in a given year. These values are calculated in terms of people and built capital (USD). An annual flood map is not a product, because that flood zone will vary based on the severity of storm.
Associated flood data used for this cost-benefit modeling are from:
Cumming, K.A., Cole, A.D., Storlazzi, C.D., Reguero, B.G., Shope, J.B., Gaido L., C., Viehman, T.S., Nickel, B.A., and Beck, M.W., 2021, Projected flooding extents and depths based on 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year wave-energy return periods for the State of Florida, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands for current and potentially restored coral reefs: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ZQKZR9
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