The 2024 winter storm events in New Bedford, MA significantly impacted the local community, infrastructure, and natural environment. New England communities are experiencing more frequent and unusual weather events, which can create unique storm tides. Storm activities and high tides may necessitate more frequent closures of the New Bedford Hurricane Protection Barrier that protects one of the most important fishing ports in the U.S. It is crucial to understand and document these impacts to develop effective coastal management strategies and planning for future storm events.
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science (NCCOS) Effects of Sea Level Rise (ESLR) Event Response Program awarded $5,000 to Penn State, allowing 15 students from the Department of Landscape Architecture to travel to New Bedford to conduct data collection following the storms.
These in-person visits allowed for on-the-ground observations and interactions with local stakeholders, enabling the students to collect visual and descriptive data on the storm’s effects on infrastructure, natural environments, and communities. Prior to the site visits, the students also conducted remote, virtual interviews and discussions with local stakeholders, including community leaders, residents, and business owners in New Bedford, to better understand areas and resources of concern.
This data will provide detailed insights into current and future storm impacts, supporting the development and refinement of coastal management and resilience strategies in New Bedford and potentially other areas in New England.
The Penn State students have been integral to a larger, five-year ESLR- funded project “Modeling, Visualizing, and Communicating Nor’easter and Hurricane Threats With Sea Level Rise to Support Coastal Management in New England”, significantly enhancing its impact at various sites, including Charlestown, Rhode Island, along the Lower Blackstone River, and now New Bedford. The project is using models to quantify the impacts of future storm and sea level rise scenarios on ecosystem and infrastructure vulnerability across New England.
The students gathered important information about specific areas of concern and interest to the New Bedford community, helping to shape the focus of future storm impact visualizations and models being created by the ESLR project team, in collaboration with the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park and its partners.
The ESLR Event Response Program augments current or prior research to help offset costs of immediate mobilization of response and/or assessment efforts associated with events that are difficult to plan as part of a scientific study. This work is authorized by the NOAA Authorization Act of 1992, Pub. L. 102-567 (Oct. 29, 1992); sec. 201(c), which directs appropriation for the NCCOS Competitive Research Program to augment and integrate existing NOAA programs, with a specific focus on improving predictions of coastal hazards and protecting human life and property.