Environment, Coasts, Oceans, & Infrastructure

I am sure many of you have noticed the news of the tidal flooding of Venice in the past few days - I have selected two images published by BBC to show the misery of Venetians. Such news from the low lying and sinking Venice are not new. The opening of the MOSE flood barrier project on the Venice lagoon is still two years away. This time the recorded high tide is close to the highest ever recorded.

Interestingly, we are hearing such news of more frequent tidal flooding from the low lying coastal areas around the world. Let us have some lively discussions and examples of other such flooding, and how the common culprit Warming Climate is playing a role.

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Dr. Dilip Barua, Ph.D, P.Eng, M. ASCE
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Website: https://widecanvas.weebly.com
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Thought of adding further to this topic - this time, primarily focusing on the rationale behind flood barrier projects such as the MOSE. The concept of flood barriers had been a tool for engineers, for a long time, to isolate areas from high-stage waterways - by dikes and sluice flap gates. A sluice gate is a simple and cost-effective solution - to let draining out of accumulated water from the protected area, and in automatic closure of flap gates when the outside waterway flood stage is high.

The requirement to modulate tidal flooding of estuaries, waterways and bays perhaps started with the Dutch Delta Works of the Haringvlietdam in 1971. Since then, many massive projects have been implemented in different parts of the world - the primary purpose in all these cases was to prevent storm surge flooding. In many of these, a controlling gate (like: vertical lift gates similar to an elevator, and hemispherical gates pivoted to the seabed or to the bank) alternative was the choice.

The purpose of the MOSE flood barriers on the three barrier-island inlets is unique - in a sense that it is designed to lessening the effects of high tides penetrating into the Venice Lagoon and the city - on a rather regular basis.

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Dr. Dilip Barua, Ph.D, P.Eng, M. ASCE
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Website: https://widecanvas.weebly.com
------------------------------

Really interesting stuff.

There was a recent article in Science Magazine talking about a 7000 year old sea wall built to protect an agricultural village from sea level rise in present-day Israel.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/7000-year-old-wall-was-earliest-known-defense-against-rising-seas-it-failed?utm_campaign=news_daily_2019-12-18&et_rid=626354804&et_cid=3130168

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Vinicius Taguchi S.M.ASCE
PhD Candidate
Minneapolis MN
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-22-2019 18:14
From: Dilip Barua
Subject: Knocking of Rising Seas in Higher Frequencies

Thought of adding further to this topic - this time, primarily focusing on the rationale behind flood barrier projects such as the MOSE. The concept of flood barriers had been a tool for engineers, for a long time, to isolate areas from high-stage waterways - by dikes and sluice flap gates. A sluice gate is a simple and cost-effective solution - to let draining out of accumulated water from the protected area, and in automatic closure of flap gates when the outside waterway flood stage is high.

The requirement to modulate tidal flooding of estuaries, waterways and bays perhaps started with the Dutch Delta Works of the Haringvlietdam in 1971. Since then, many massive projects have been implemented in different parts of the world - the primary purpose in all these cases was to prevent storm surge flooding. In many of these, a controlling gate (like: vertical lift gates similar to an elevator, and hemispherical gates pivoted to the seabed or to the bank) alternative was the choice.

The purpose of the MOSE flood barriers on the three barrier-island inlets is unique - in a sense that it is designed to lessening the effects of high tides penetrating into the Venice Lagoon and the city - on a rather regular basis.

------------------------------
Dr. Dilip Barua, Ph.D, P.Eng, M. ASCE
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Website: https://widecanvas.weebly.com
------------------------------

The article by Lizie Wade in the Science Magazine throws an interesting light on how our ancestors made some choices to protect themselves against the Holocene Transgression of rising seas. Thanks Vinicius for sharing the story.

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Dr. Dilip Barua, Ph.D, P.Eng, M. ASCE
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Website: https://widecanvas.weebly.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-19-2019 12:10
From: Vinicius Taguchi
Subject: Knocking of Rising Seas in Higher Frequencies

Really interesting stuff.

There was a recent article in Science Magazine talking about a 7000 year old sea wall built to protect an agricultural village from sea level rise in present-day Israel.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/7000-year-old-wall-was-earliest-known-defense-against-rising-seas-it-failed?utm_campaign=news_daily_2019-12-18&et_rid=626354804&et_cid=3130168

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Vinicius Taguchi S.M.ASCE
PhD Candidate
Minneapolis MN
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 11-22-2019 18:14
From: Dilip Barua
Subject: Knocking of Rising Seas in Higher Frequencies

Thought of adding further to this topic - this time, primarily focusing on the rationale behind flood barrier projects such as the MOSE. The concept of flood barriers had been a tool for engineers, for a long time, to isolate areas from high-stage waterways - by dikes and sluice flap gates. A sluice gate is a simple and cost-effective solution - to let draining out of accumulated water from the protected area, and in automatic closure of flap gates when the outside waterway flood stage is high.

The requirement to modulate tidal flooding of estuaries, waterways and bays perhaps started with the Dutch Delta Works of the Haringvlietdam in 1971. Since then, many massive projects have been implemented in different parts of the world - the primary purpose in all these cases was to prevent storm surge flooding. In many of these, a controlling gate (like: vertical lift gates similar to an elevator, and hemispherical gates pivoted to the seabed or to the bank) alternative was the choice.

The purpose of the MOSE flood barriers on the three barrier-island inlets is unique - in a sense that it is designed to lessening the effects of high tides penetrating into the Venice Lagoon and the city - on a rather regular basis.

------------------------------
Dr. Dilip Barua, Ph.D, P.Eng, M. ASCE
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Website: https://widecanvas.weebly.com