The Challenge
Sea level rise projections and hydrodynamic modeling are essential tools for state agencies, municipalities, consultants and other stakeholders working to advance coastal resilience. The Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) is a probabilistic hydrodynamic model that considers a wide range of physical processes impacting flooding from coastal storms. MC-FRM products for three sea level rise scenarios support climate vulnerability assessments, planning, conceptual design work, and outreach. They are also fundamental to the Resilient Massachusetts Action Team’s Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool. However, users can find navigating and applying MC-FRM products complex.
Project Scope
In spring 2023, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM), with the support of Woods Hole Group, hosted a three-part online training series on MC-FRM. Intended for beginner to advanced users of MC-FRM products, the trainings, including hands-on exercises, provided details of the model, an overview of products, and guidance on applications. The training session recordings were posted on EEA’s YouTube channel.
Goal and Intended Resilience Benefits
MC-FRM is a valuable tool for coastal resilience plans and projects. The main goal of the MC-FRM stakeholder training series was to support more informed application of sea level rise and storm surge modeling for coastal resilience efforts.
Metrics
The impact of the training series was measured by the number of participants in the trainings and views of the videos. Additionally, EEA and CZM can gauge if comprehension of MC-FRM has improved through the review of information provided in grant applications, plans, and permitting documents.
Results
More than 142 individuals participated in at least one training session, with 100 participants in training #1 (maximum capacity), 103 participants in training #2, and 71 participants in training #3. Thirty-six individuals participated in all three training sessions. To increase access to the training content, recordings were posted to EEA’s YouTube channel as a playlist. As of August 23, 2024, recordings have been viewed 966 (training #1), 445 (training #2), and 216 (training #3) times. View counts are expected to increase and can be tracked.
Best Practices
- Training content and format were informed by a pre-training survey, which received 305 responses. This facilitated the translation of technical information about sea level rise projections, hydrodynamic modeling, and MC-FRM products for participants.
- Given the complexity of the content, trainings were limited to approximately two hours and recorded and bookmarked to facilitate review of information.
- Interactive knowledge checks and exercises helped to keep the audience engaged and identify content that needed to be reinforced.
Contributions to 2018 State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (SHMCAP) and 2023 ResilientMass Plan Implementation
This project directly supported the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s action of expanding and improving the Boston Harbor Flood Risk Model to create the Coastal Flood Risk Model under the 2018 SHMCAP.
Increased awareness and understanding of MC-FRM products also support several actions contained in the 2023 ResilientMass Plan, such as the development of a coastal resilience strategy and the assessment of vulnerability of cultural resources along the coast. There are many other actions that can be supported through these materials including guidance on flow path analyses and impacts of channelized flow to buildings, best practices for the redesign of seawalls and revetments, and adaptation of roads in salt marshes.
Further Action
Throughout the training series, participants confirmed that sea level scenarios and annual coastal flood exceedance probabilities (ACFEP) must be clearly articulated in outreach products. These elements are often misunderstood and not connected to emissions pathways. New users of MC-FRM products also tend to confuse still water flood depths and elevations and wave action water elevations (water surface elevation plus the maximum wave crest). CZM’s Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Viewer was developed to increase awareness of coastal flooding vulnerability and includes MC-FRM ACFEP and flood depths for the 1% ACFEP (a major coastal storm). Wave action water elevations and hatching zones that include areas influenced by wave overtopping are being added to the Massachusetts Ocean Resource Information System, CZM’s data portal, to assist with the review of projects.
Next steps include the development of fact sheets and a full technical report. The need for additional documentation as well as mean high water shorelines for 2050 and 2070 scenarios informed CZM’s FY24 SHMCAP application. Future MC-FRM updates should include additional physical processes (e.g., coastal erosion and culverts/bridges).
For more information, please view the training videos: 2023 Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) Trainings - YouTube. MC-FRM products are available for download on the MC-FRM page of the Woods Hole Group website.