An Integrating Architecture for Coastal Inundation and Erosion Program Planning and Product Development

The physical systems causing coastal inundation and erosion are governed by a complex combination of oceanic, atmospheric, and terrestrial processes interacting across a broad range of temporal and spatial scales. Depending on time and space, the expression of these processes may variously take the form of episodic storm-induced surge or wave overtopping and undercutting, chronic flooding and erosion associated with long-term relative sea level rise, or catastrophic inundation attributable to tsunami. Combined with these physical systems are social systems made up of diverse cultural, economic, and environmental conditions. As with the physical systems, the social systems are changing, largely because of increases in population and infrastructure along coastlines. These diverse conditions and systems reveal wide-ranging needs for content, format, and timing of data and information to support decisionmaking. This paper describes a conceptual framework for an integrating architecture that would support program planning and product development toward hazard resilient communities. Central to this framework is a comprehensive, horizontally and vertically integrated view of the physical and social systems that shape the risks associated with coastal inundation and erosion, and the types of information needed to manage those risks. Equally important, the framework addresses the necessary connections among systems and scales. This integrated approach also emphasizes the needs of planners, managers, and decisionmakers in a changing physical and social environment, as well as the necessity of an iterative, nested, collaborative, and participatory process.