NERC Directed Mode Project: Coastal Flooding by Extreme Events (CoFEE)
Project Partners and Duration
NERC Directed Mode research project NE/E002471/1 (Coastal Flooding by Extreme Events) was one of many projects funded under the NERC Flood Risk from Extreme Events (FREE) programme. It was jointly awarded to:
- School of Geography, University of Plymouth (Principal Investigator: Dr J. Williams)
- Natural Geographical and Applied Sciences, Edge Hill University (Co-Investigator: Professor A. Worsley)
- National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool (Co-Investigators Dr J. Wolf and Dr A.J. Souza)
- Department of Geography, University of Liverpool (Co-Investigator Professor A. Plater)
Collaboration took place throughout the project between the research partners and Sefton Council (contact. G. Lymbury). The project itself ran from 01 April 2007 to 30 September 2010.
Background
CoFEE was part of the NERC FREE programme. FREE used expertise in environmental science to investigate the physical processes involved in generating floods from extreme weather events, so that improvements could be made in their predictions. It aimed to research what causes and propagates floods, helping to forecast and quantify flood risk and inform society about the likely effects of climate change.
Project Aim
CoFEE aimed to provide, within carefully prescribed limits of uncertainty, flood risk information for a diverse range of coastal types, focussing on a case study of the Liverpool Bay and Sefton coast areas. This information included:
- The speed and extent of coastal flooding during an extreme event for present climate conditions.
- The maximum expected extent of coastal flooding during an extreme event in the future based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defined climate change scenarios.
- The sensitivity of different coastal types to extreme floods in the future in relation to their present flood risk.
Project Objectives
The main objective of CoFEE was the development of a Coastal Storm Impact Model (CoSIM). This model would have the capability of predicting flood extent and magnitude, and predicting and accounting for morphological change at the land/sea interface. It was to be driven at its seaward boundary by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Modelling System (POLCOMS) developed by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Liverpool (formerly the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory). POLCOMS was to be coupled to a range of atmospheric, wave and turbulence modules to enable it to simulate recorded past flooding events.
Historical observations of local flooding available from a variety of sources were to be used to calibrate the outputs of the CoSIM. Once calibrated, the CoSIM was to be run for future events, using a combination of three IPCC sea level rise scenarios and other anticipated extreme events. The model outputs would allow CoFEE to examine how changes in flood inundation speed and extent increase risks to life, property and infrastructure.
Further information on CoFEE is available from the BODC CoFEE webpages .
