Climate Risk

ONLINE COVER Rising sea levels raise the risk of flooding in low-lying coastal areas such as the San Francisco Bay Area, potentially disrupting urban traffic networks. When flooded roads are closed, they can create ripple effects in surrounding communities, causing employees to miss work and triggering travel delays. To better understand how near-future flooding may impact the San Francisco Bay Area, Indraneel Kasmalkar and colleagues integrated a traffic model with flood maps representing potential combinations of storm surges, tides, seasonal cycles, interannual anomalies driven by large-scale climate variability such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, and sea level rise. The researchers found that road network connectivity–not flood exposure itself–determines commute delays in the event of a flood, with improvements in road network connectivity bolstering traffic resilience to hazards. This finding suggests coastal communities at risk for flooding–in coordination with local governments farther inland–may prepare for the future by improving road infrastructure. [CREDIT: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES]

What I do

I am an academic researcher who uses computational models to quantify the impacts of coastal flooding and sea level rise on the urban transportation system. My research lies at the intersection of floods, urban systems, and computation.

Here is my paper, published in Science Advances, on how coastal flooding in the San Francisco Bay Area has a spatially extensive impact on regional traffic patterns.

Why should we care about climate change?

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of natural hazards such as flooding, wildfires, and hurricanes. These hazards put all of us at risk, but they especially disrupt and threaten the lives of the most vulnerable among us.

Climate change is an opportunity for us to rethink how we want our society to be. The climate and the environment affects every one of us. With combined and coordinated efforts, we can develop a more resilient, equitable, and thriving society.

Check out my TEDxMMCOE talk summarizing my perspective on climate change adaptation.

Community science

The ideal of science is that it advances the wellbeing of our communities and societies. But my view is that academic science sometimes steers far away from that. How can we do good science that is driven by community priorities and community engagement? Check out Thriving Earth Exchange and our San Diego Creek Project with elementary school students from 2018-2019.

Chollas Creek. Credits: Groundwork San Diego.