Spatial analysis of landfills in respect to flood events and sea-level rise using ArcGIS Pro
Description
"Recently in the news, media coverage of flood events has garnered attention due to tropical storms like Hurricane Harvey and the costly damages that resulted. Under climate change, events like sea-level rise (SLR) and flooding are projected to increase which threaten infrastructure, making it necessary for proper planning before, during, and after installation of landfills to mitigate risk. Studies in Austria and the UK have revealed that many landfills are located in flood zones in addition to coastal areas affected by coastal erosion. In the United States, there have been minimal analysis’ on landfill locations related to flood events and SLR. The interest of gaining knowledge on flood prone and SLR at-risk landfills is that studies reveal that inundation of landfills can spread contaminants to other areas (e.g. marshes) that can have both ecological and health risks. To begin addressing this issue, determining what landfills are at risk from floods or sea level rise, how many, and the extent to which they could become inundated or eroded is the focus of this study. Using ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro software, and publicly available data, maps of landfills were created in the gulf-state area of the United States with flood and rising sea level data to then be analyzed and categorized based on spatial risks. The study has shown the potential for hundreds of landfills to be at risk from either flooding, SLR, or both in the gulf-state region. "
Start Date
11-2017
Document Type
Event
Keywords
Sea-level rise, landfills, flood, environment
Session List
Poster
Spatial analysis of landfills in respect to flood events and sea-level rise using ArcGIS Pro
"Recently in the news, media coverage of flood events has garnered attention due to tropical storms like Hurricane Harvey and the costly damages that resulted. Under climate change, events like sea-level rise (SLR) and flooding are projected to increase which threaten infrastructure, making it necessary for proper planning before, during, and after installation of landfills to mitigate risk. Studies in Austria and the UK have revealed that many landfills are located in flood zones in addition to coastal areas affected by coastal erosion. In the United States, there have been minimal analysis’ on landfill locations related to flood events and SLR. The interest of gaining knowledge on flood prone and SLR at-risk landfills is that studies reveal that inundation of landfills can spread contaminants to other areas (e.g. marshes) that can have both ecological and health risks. To begin addressing this issue, determining what landfills are at risk from floods or sea level rise, how many, and the extent to which they could become inundated or eroded is the focus of this study. Using ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro software, and publicly available data, maps of landfills were created in the gulf-state area of the United States with flood and rising sea level data to then be analyzed and categorized based on spatial risks. The study has shown the potential for hundreds of landfills to be at risk from either flooding, SLR, or both in the gulf-state region. "