Date of Graduation

Spring 5-19-2023

Document Access

Restricted Project/Capstone - USF access only

Degree Name

Master of Science in Environmental Management (MSEM)

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Environmental Management

First Advisor

Adam Hess

Abstract

Sea level rise is one of the major climate change impacts on coastal cities worldwide. The anticipated 0.6 to 2.2 meters of sea level rise by 2100 will put 13% of the global, urban coastal communities at risk of flood inundation (Sweet et al, 2022; Hauer et al., 2016; McGranahan et al., 2007). Gray infrastructure, such as levees and dikes, are engineered structures made of man-made materials that are designed to provide short-term coastal flood protection however, these structures deteriorate over time, resulting in reduced structural integrity (Hosseinzadah et al., 2022; Weinstein et. al, 2021). As opposed to gray infrastructure, green infrastructures are structures designed to be integrated more closely into the natural landscape (Chavez et al., 2021). Yet, the initial implementation stage of creating green infrastructure may be vulnerable to storm damage (Sutton-Grier et al., 2015). Hybrid infrastructure aims to integrate the use of gray and green infrastructure to increase coastal flood protection from increasing sea levels and storm surge impacts. The following research focused on investigating hybrid infrastructure to be utilized in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The study analyzed the following hybrid strategies: marsh sills/revetments, ecotone levees, hybrid sand dunes, and artificial reef structures. After performing a comparative analysis, ecotone levees and artificial reef structures were found to provide the most effective coastal flood protection. Based on the initial research of adaptive management plans and hybrid project implementation reports, the study recommends an increase in pilot project implementation for hybrid infrastructure, evaluation of hybrid infrastructure trade-offs, and collection of long-term data for hybrid infrastructure strategies to better assess the degree of coastal flood protection from rising sea level and storm surge impacts.

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