Sitting on Narragansett Bay in northeastern Rhode Island, the town of Warren is highly vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise and flooding due to its low elevation. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projections, the sea level is projected to rise 1.6 feet by 2050 and 2.29 feet by 2060, worsening the conditions the town already faces.

Starting this fall, a multidisciplinary team of scientists from the University of Rhode Island will begin working with stakeholders in Warren to address worsening climate hazards that are affecting coastal communities, including flooding and salinization, as part of a three-state collaboration backed by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

“Finding solutions to this very complex problem requires experts with a range of expertise to provide the support and information necessary to enable community members to make important decisions,” said Emi Uchida, principal investigator of URI’s $1.5 million grant, and professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Natural Resource Economics. “So, we’re bringing together experts in behavioral economics, natural sciences, engineering, public policy, and stakeholder engagement to provide the information communities need to empower them to make adaptation decisions that ensure climate resilience.”
 
The project — “Risks, Impacts, and Strategies for Coastal Communities: Advancing Convergent Science to Support Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience” — is a collaboration of three states: Rhode Island, Delaware, and South Carolina. The $6 million, four-year initiative is led by the University of Delaware, and benefits from wide partnerships of researchers and stakeholders in each state.

“These three states are among the top 10 low-lying states in the U.S.,” Uchida said. “The coastal communities in these states are going to experience more flooding and that comes with surface and groundwater flooding, as well as increasing salinity levels in waters and soil.”
 
The initiative is part of the NSF’s $77.8 million program to increase climate resilience by supporting 14 projects — overseen by 50 institutions in 21 jurisdictions — through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.

Warren was chosen — along with Little Creek and Delaware Bay beaches and Edisto Island in South Carolina — because it is disproportionately affected by climate change and sea level rise on the Atlantic Coast, which faces nearly twice the global rate of sea level rise. Among the factors considered were Warren’s flood and salinization risks, and potential for high flood damage to infrastructure.

URI researchers will evaluate these areas and others to help Warren devise climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. The project will also advance scientific knowledge on how disproportionately affected coastal communities deal with and adapt to flooding and salinization.

Warren is exploring managed retreat from the most impacted areas, purposely moving infrastructure or homes to inland areas less at risk. Current discussions include home buyouts of existing buildings and redevelopment of a key corridor where current residents can settle.

“We’d like to bring in the science to think about what each of these options mean in terms of reducing that risk of flooding,” Uchida said, “and what it means in terms of people’s well-being so the community can use that information to consider those trade-offs and make science-driven decisions themselves.”