SurgeWatch: a user-friendly database of coastal flooding for the UK
University of Southampton: £500 contribution per year (2016-2021)
SCOPAC funds the website domain name renewal for the national database of coastal flooding in the UK.
SurgeWatch was founded when researchers noted that coastal floods were not systematically documented, with no monitoring system in place to record whether extreme sea level events progress to coastal flood events, and what occurred in terms of inundation extent and damage.
The site provides up-to-date scientific information about floods and sea levels in partnership with the National Oceanography Centre, and encourages users to submit their own photos and accounts of flooding.
The database has already resulted in two publications in the Nature Journal Scientific Data. The website’s lead researcher, Dr Ivan Haigh, will keep SCOPAC up to date on storm surge and sea level rise research.
- The SurgeWatch website can be found at www.surgewatch.org
- The first research paper at www.nature.com/articles/sdata201521