Many coastal communities in the United States now face a high chance of flooding, and this risk is expected to increase as sea levels rise because of climate change. Experts like Professor Michael Beck at UC Santa Cruz are working to predict and reduce this risk by studying how natural barriers such as coral reefs and mangroves help protect the shorelines.
Beck and his team use advanced NVIDIA graphics processing units, or GPUs, to create detailed and fast visual maps of flooding events. These maps help governments, organizations, and investors understand areas at risk and see how solutions based on nature can limit flood damage. The team says that showing people these realistic simulations is an important way to encourage action since these problems affect many lives and can be expensive to solve.
Thanks to NVIDIA’s powerful computing technology and software, what used to take six hours to calculate can now be done in about forty minutes. This speed allows the researchers to run multiple simulations and double-check their work, which makes their entire project more ambitious. Now, the team can quickly create flood models not just for California but for countries around the world, especially small island states that are often most at risk.
One interesting approach to flood protection is placing insurance policies on valuable coral reefs. In Mexico, for instance, local groups have purchased insurance that provides funding to repair coral reefs when strong storms hit. These types of policies are starting to be used in other areas like the Caribbean and Hawaii, helping to restore marine life and protect coastal regions from severe flooding.
In California, the team is working on a project called CoSMoS ADAPT. This project uses computer models to predict how different strategies, such as building sea walls or restoring dunes and reefs, can help protect communities and reduce costs from flooding.
UC Santa Cruz’s work is made possible by grants and support from the NVIDIA Academic Grant Program, which encourages researchers to use cutting-edge technology in areas like artificial intelligence and robotics. If you are a full-time faculty member at an academic institution, you can apply for this program and support innovative research like this.
Original article and image: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/uc-santa-cruz-maps-coastal-flooding/
