Puget Sound Parcel-scale Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment
The Project
Between 2020 and 2022, a team from Washington Sea Grant and Coastal Geologic Services developed a quantitative sea level rise vulnerability approach for coastal parcels on Puget Sound. The goals of the project were to construct, calculate, and map a sea level rise vulnerability index that:
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- Accounts for potential impacts to both the built environment (homes, roads, and critical infrastructure) and the natural environment (coastal habitats);
- Uses only publicly-available data;
- Is based on exposure to both erosion and flooding;
- Provides insights about differences in vulnerability between individual parcels in Puget Sound;
- Enables new insights about the spatial distribution of vulnerability in Puget Sound, and helps to prioritize locations where vulnerability is highest.
Sea level rise vulnerability results mapped for Island County
While this project was viewed as a pilot, and the results preliminary in nature, after review by a project advisory group and a variety of engaged stakeholders, including three Local Integrating Organizations and one Marine Resource Committee, we are making the results available here. Based on their feedback, we conclude that this analysis offers a novel perspective on sea level rise vulnerability throughout Puget Sound. However, limitations or errors in the data we used as inputs, and and assumptions incorporated into the approach should be carefully considered when interpreting those results.
An accompanying Social Vulnerability Assessment was also completed for this work.
This work resulted in a peer-reviewed publication with the results showing that sea level rise vulnerability in Puget Sound is widely distributed, but the overall distribution of scores is heavily skewed, suggesting that adaptation actions directed at a relatively small number of parcels could yield significant reductions in vulnerability.
Questions about the analysis or results can be directed to Ian Miller at Washington Sea Grant.
Technical Report and User Guide
Prioritizing Sea Level Rise Exposure and Habitat Sensitivity Across Puget Sound: Final Technical Report. Prepared for the Puget Sound National Esutary Program by Coastal Geologic Services, Inc. April 2022.
Technical Report Appendices, which include:
- Appendix A: Map folio of results for Tulalip Bay area and each county within the study area
- Appendix B: Geodatabase User Guide
- Appendix C: Reviewer Comments and Responses
Vulnerability Assessment Maps – By County
Results are available in a geodatabase, suitable for viewing and analyzing in a GIS. To access and download one or more of these file packages, please fill in your contact information via the appropriate form below. A link to download your requested file will be emailed to you (please check your junk folder; the email may take up to 5 minutes to arrive).
Why are we asking for your contact information? This is a first generation product, and we hope to make updates and modifications in the future. We also want to learn more about users of these data, and if and how you find value in these results. Therefore, we are requesting your contact information before you download the geodatabase. Please fill in your contact information below. We will ONLY use this contact information to get in touch with you about this product, and it won’t be shared with anyone, for any other purpose.
1) Key results database: ~80MB
2) Full results database: ~3GB
The Key Results database does NOT include input data, or inundation polygons. A transfer of those additional data can be arranged on an as-needed basis. Please contact Ian Miller at Washington Sea Grant to arrange a transfer of these data.
Project funding information
This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement PC-01J22301 through the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.