Coastal Processes, Hazards, and Society

15-30 for blended learning; unlimited (larger than 150) for online only.

Online course. Has been taught as a blended course at UNO, Penn State and Shippensburg. Class meetings are designed to assist students will the lab assignments.

University with graduate programs, including doctoral programs

This course has been piloted for one semester at UNO, Penn State and Shippensburg University. It is currently in revision. It is designed as an online course but has been offered as a blended online/ lab course so far. It is currently in revision. The goal is to offer it as an online only course in the future.

Upon completing the course, students will be prepared to:

• Develop the fundamental geospatial skills and concepts needed to assess the coastal processes and hazards discussed in this course
• Link geologic time and current shoreline processes in order to explain the past and present evolution of coastline morphology
• Assess the economic and social impacts of coastal hazards
• Select optimal engineering options to mitigate specific risks
• Assess how government and stakeholders can plan for and respond to coastal hazards

Assessment includes a weekly quiz for each completed module and two mid term exams. In addition, each of the 12 modules includes at least one graded formative assessment activity and one summative "lab" assessment activity involving active learning. These include a wide variety of activities, including using Google Earth to explore coastal communities and using real world data to investigate impacts of coastal hazards around the world. Students also submit a weekly blog on a topic related to the current module.

A capstone project involves the students choosing a coastal community and developing a "Coastal Vulnerability Audit", using a provided worksheet. This is built during the course and culminates in the creation of a "3 Minute" Audio-Annotated Google Earth Tour for the selected site. For the "3 Minute Tour" students need to:

1. Identify and describe a specific coastal setting (including physical and human landscapes), landforms, geomorphology, tectonic settings, processes etc. (Integrating Unit 1)
2. Explain the geologic context, hazards and risks impacting the site and the forecast for future hazards (Integrating Unit 2)
3. Outline efforts to assess vulnerability, plan for disaster management and likelihood for mitigation/adaptation. (Integrating Unit 3)
4. Inform a resilience plan for future progress toward smart coastal planning and coastal resource management that highlights reduction of impacts to the environment, nature, society and economies. (Integrating Unit 4)

Students must use the CVAT to help compile information to be integrated into your audio tour.

The syllabus for the Fall 2014 course offering is found at: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth107/node/511

The Course is divided into four Units (described below). Each unit comprises 3 modules. Hence there are 12 weekly modules to cover the entire semester. The remaining classes are reserved for an orientation at the beginning of the semester and for the mid-term exams.

Below is an abbreviated overview of the teaching materials with a few example activities. The course materials are available at:

https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth107/node/822

Unit 1: Introduction to the Coastal Zone: Society, Landforms, and Processes

The focus of unit one is to develop a solid understanding of how society relies upon coastal zones, how a coastal zone is defined and the physical processes that operate within coastal areas. This unit is divided into three modules:

• The Societies and Economics of Coastal Regions (Module 1)
• A Global Glance of Coastal Landscapes (Module 2)
• Physical Processes Active in Coastal Landscapes (Module 3)

Unit Goals

Upon completion of unit 1 students will:

• Appreciate why societies are closely linked to coastal zones and how society interacts within different types of coastal zones
• Understand the wide range of types of coastal zones and morphologies that are present on Earth
• Recognize the many types of processes that operate within coastal zones and how these processes affect the form and function of different coastal settings and environments

Example Module:

Module 1: The Societies and Economics of Coastal Regions

Module 1 Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Analyze real world data on global distribution of cities identified as most vulnerable to coastal flooding.
• Consider the multiple variables that determine the ranking of these cities in the present and future.
• Use geospatial skills with online tools such as Google Earth to explore and compile data for two coastal communities at risk from coastal flooding.
• Use geospatial analysis skills with tools such as GeoMapApp to create elevation profiles of the case study communities.

Example of activity for Unit 1 module 1:

The students analyze real-world data from a recent World Bank study on cities ranked as most vulnerable to coastal flooding; consider variables that contribute to the ranking; use Google Earth to compile data for two case study coastal communities (New Orleans, LA and Guanzhou, China); and create elevation profiles of these communities to better understand the reasons for coastal vulnerability.

Unit 2: Introduction to Coastal Zone Hazards: Long and Short-term Processes of Change and Their Impacts on Society

Overview

The principle focus of unit two is to build on our understanding of coastal processes as covered in unit 1 in order to explore in more detail the hazards that impact coastlines and their communities.

Unit 2 is divided into three modules:

• understanding sea-Level change (module 4)
• coastal catastrophes including storms and tsunamis (module 5), and
• impact of coastal processes on societies and economics of coastal regions (module 6)

Example Module and Activity:

Module 6:

Module 6 Objectives: The students will be able to:

• Examine data to create profiles of coastal communities around the world to gain an understanding of the complexities of living with coastal hazards.
• Analyze vignettes of experiences of coastal communities, such as those affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan, Super Storm Sandy and other recent catastrophic coastal events, as well as longer term sea level rise effects.
• Explore extent of real-life impacts to coastal communities as a result of recent storms and sea level change.
• Develop pros and cons for responses by communities and create a hypothetical future scenario for a coastal community.

Activity:

Objectives – The students will

• Examine, analyze, and respond to specific examples of ways in which catastrophes caused by coastal hazards impact communities (examples are Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina); and ways in which communities are responding to ongoing coastal hazards, including repeated damage from storms, flooding, etc. (examples are from North Carolina Outer Banks);
  
• Consider multiple viewpoints related to finding solutions to coastal management dilemmas;
  
• Develop personal responses to future scenario questions such as how human development should proceed in communities exposed to coastal hazards.
  

Part a).

Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans; Super Storm Sandy's Impact on New York and New Jersey

1. http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/how-to-tell-when-new-orleans-has-recovered-from-katrina

And Hurricane Katrina eight years later, a statistical snapshot of the New Orleans area

Instructions: Read the sections on Super Storm sandy in New York and New Jersey and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans to gain a good idea of all of the ways a catastrophic event such as this can impact large U.S. cities and densely populated coastlines. Organize the main points covered in the materials under the following headings. Write brief notes under each heading.

1. The statistics of the two storms: Katrina and Sandy (this can be in the form of a table)
   

• Surge heights
  
• Wind Strengths
  
• Total areas covered by storms
  
• Areas of land impacted by the storms
  
• Number of fatalities caused by the two storms
  
• Overall cost of damages incurred
  
• Number of structures (homes and businesses) destroyed by the two storms.
  

1. Other metrics mentioned in the materials that help to provide a picture of the magnitude of the impact to the communities affected (e.g., loss of power, loss of services such as health care, schools, etc.)
   
2. Make a list of the types of infrastructure that is compromised by a storm of the magnitude of Sandy or Katrina in a densely populated area.
   
3. In what ways are the lives of residents disrupted when a disaster like these two storms hits a large city?
   
4. What long term impacts to the communities have occurred? Was the overall economy of either place impacted in a negative or positive way?
   
5. Recovery from the widespread destruction that New Orleans experienced with Katrina is a complex topic, which we do not have time to examine in detail here. The articles at: http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/how-to-tell-when-new-orleans-has-recovered-from-katrina
   
   And Hurricane Katrina eight years later, a statistical snapshot of the New Orleans area
   
   Are very helpful summaries of where things stood in 2008 and 2014.
   

After reading these articles, list three main points you took from the article in regard to where New Orleans was as of 2008 and summer 2014 in the recovery process.

1. As of writing in 2015, it is a decade since Katrina happened and three years since Sandy. What lessons can be taken from these events that would help a U.S. community affected in the future by an event of such a size?
   

Unit 3: Coastal Engineering, Mitigation and Societal Response to Coastal Hazards

Overview

Unit 3 explores hard shoreline mitigation strategies, their impacts to coastline erosion, and introduces alternative mitigation approaches using soft engineering methods and material. The unit introduces the concept of layered defenses, their direct benefits and how these strategies mitigate risk, and in the last module the concept of smart building or building with nature is explored. The unit consists of three modules:

• Hard Structures and Coastal Modifications through Mimicking Natural Processes (Module 7)
• Managed Retreat/Multi-Layered Protection (Module 8)
• Smart Building (Module 9)

Unit Goals

Upon completion of unit 3 students will:

• Analyze variability of coastal erosion and accretion rates at natural settings as well as at location proximal to hard engineering structures
• Explain and contrast innovating approaches to coastal hazard mitigation
• Analyze new concepts of mitigation such a layered defenses, smart building and building with nature as sustainable mitigation practices

Unit Objectives

In order to reach these goals, the instructors have established the following objectives for student learning. In working through the modules within unit 3 students will be able to:

• Analyze differential erosion by utilizing geospatial tools and sequential images
• Investigate alternative methods for non-structural shoreline hazard mitigation, including managed retreat and multi-layered defenses.
• Explore the pros and cons, including cost-benefits of managed retreat case-studies and consider examples of communities facing retreat as an option and the factors leading to these decisions.
• Analyze hypothetical storm surge impacts on communities on the Louisiana coast from Google Earth and online tools.
• Implement smart building approaches to aid in the expansion of one city that is threatened by sea level rise and storms, and employ building with nature and layered defense approaches in the design.
• Integrate concepts of resiliency and coastal flood protection through massive nourishments, and how these new methods are setting trends in smart building along coastlines.

Example Module and Activity:

Module 8: Managed Retreat/ Multi-Layered Protection

Module 8 Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, you will:

• Investigate alternative methods for non-structural shoreline hazard mitigation, including managed retreat and multi-layered defenses.
• Explore the pros and cons, including cost-benefits of managed retreat case-studies and consider examples of communities facing retreat as an option and the factors leading to these decisions.
• Analyze hypothetical storm surge impacts on communities on the Louisiana coast from Google Earth and online tools.
• Formulate detailed recommendations for the future of a coastal community, using real examples from the Louisiana coast.

What Makes Coastal Communities in Louisiana so Vulnerable to Coastal Flooding?

Objective:

Analyze hypothetical storm surge impacts on communities on the Louisiana coast from Google Earth and online tools.

Assignment:

There are five activities in this section that will help you answer that question "What Makes Coastal Communities in Louisiana so Vulnerable to Coastal Flooding?". You will:

• Use Google Earth to find and explore location and elevation of Isle de Jean Charles, LA.
• Measure and plot linear distance and elevation to calculate slope of Louisiana coast.
• Manipulate a 1-D surge model by entering parameters for shelf slope, wind velocity, and water depth in order to appreciate how the angle of slope of the bed and the nearshore coastal land influences the height of storm surge. Source of model: (LSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) http://www.coastalhazards.org/1-d-surge-model.html (link is external).
• Estimate storm surge heights for an community located several km from the shoreline (our example is Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana).
• Compare Isle de Jean Charles with a community nearby that is protected by at more than one other layer of defense (levee, natural ridge, etc.) – example community – Montegut.

Unit 4: Society and Policy Making

Overview

Unit 4 explores how policy makers and stakeholders can incorporate information about coastal process and hazards (units 1 and 2) and strategies for mitigating these hazards (unit 3) into coastal management and decision-making. This unit is divided into three modules:

• Understanding and assessing coastal vulnerability (Module 10)
• Tsunami and storm surge policy (Module 11)
• Sea level rise policy (Module 12)

These modules consider how policy makers can use this information to determine who and what is most vulnerable to coastal hazards, which strategies are most suitable for protecting these persons and properties, and when and where these strategies should be implemented.

Unit 4 Goals

Upon completion of unit 4 students will:

• Analyze how coastal vulnerability emerges from the complex interactions among coastal hazards, people, and the natural and built environment.
• Apply disaster management, planning, and policy-making tools to coastal human-environment systems.

Unit Objectives

In order to reach these goals, the instructors have established the following objectives for student learning. In working through the modules within unit 4 students will be able to:

• Analyze and compare the vulnerability of different people and places in terms of vulnerability's three dimensions (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity).
• Apply the disaster management cycle to storm surge and tsunami.
• Evaluate strategies for preparing for sea level rise and related hazards from the perspective of multiple stakeholders and policy makers.

Example Module and Activity:

Module 12: Sea Level Rise Policy:

Module 12 Goals:

Students will assess how government and stakeholders can plan for and respond to coastal hazards

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Identify important coastal stakeholders.
• Review and compare policy options for preparing for and responding to chronic coastal hazards such as sea level rise.
• Assess how these stakeholders might weigh the costs and benefits of these policy options.
• Identify and use techniques for determining where and when to apply policy options.
• Develop a report on sea level rise policy options for a specific place and set of stakeholders.

Module Summative Assessment

Activity: Report on Sea Level Rise Policy Options for Norfolk, Virginia

Objectives:

• Identify important coastal stakeholders.
• Review and compare policy options for preparing for and responding to chronic coastal hazards such as sea level rise.
• Assess how these stakeholders might weigh the costs and benefits of these policy options.
• Identify and use techniques for determining where and when to apply policy options.
• Develop a report on sea level rise policy options for a specific place and set of stakeholders.

Introduction

Located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the Norfolk, Virginia metropolitan area is home to over 1.5 million people and the world's largest naval base. It is also one of the most physically vulnerable cities in the United States for both sea level rise and storm surge. Land in the Norfolk area is sinking due to both the retreat of North America's glaciers following the last major continental ice advance and the continued subsidence of areas surrounding the Chesapeake Bay impact crater [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_impact_crater] (link is external). These factors are causing local sea levels to rise much faster than the global average.

In this activity, you will be playing the role of a local government official preparing to lead a participatory planning activity for sea level rise in the Norfolk, Virginia metro area. In preparation for the first planning meeting, you have been asked to prepare a report that:

• Identifies stakeholders
• Builds a short list of strategies to protect against sea level rise and related hazards
• Assesses which of these strategies will be most cost effective
• Considers views of vulnerable stakeholders
• Uses maps to prioritize protection for the most vulnerable areas

The template provided in your worksheet will guide you through creation of the report. The material has been provided here for your convenience.

Authors: Sean Cornell, Associate Professor Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Duncan Fitzgerald, Professor Boston University, Nathan Frey, Research Assistant The Pennsylvania State University, Ioannis Georgiou, Associate Professor, University of New Orleans, Kevin C. Hanegan, Research Assistant University of New Orleans, Li-San Hung, Research Assistant The Pennsylvania State University, Mark Kulp, Associate Professor University of New Orleans, Diane Maygarden, Research Associate University of New Orleans, David Retchless, Research Assistant The Pennsylvania State University, and Brent Yarnal, Professor The Pennsylvania State University. Team Lead: Tim Bralower, Professor, The Pennsylvania State University. Learning Designer: April Millet, The Pennsylvania State University