Modelling water from clouds to coast

The development of new models for predicting coastal flooding will help researchers minimize damage and risks. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) launched a research program titled Flood Risk from Extreme Events (FREE) in 2006. The NERC has funded the Ensemble Prediction of Inundation Risk and Uncertainty arising from Scour (EPIRUS) project within the FREE program to bring together a team of hydrometeorologists, oceanographers, and coastal engineers. Qingping Zou, principal investigator for the EPIRUS project and Dominic Reeve, professor of Coastal Dynamics at the University of Plymouth, are collaborating with a team from the University of Bristol led by Professor Ian Cluckie and Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory and the Halcrow Group and the New Forest District Council. Qingping and Dominic hope to develop a new way of predicting coastal flooding system. The ensemble system will facilitate assessment of the uncertainty in forecasting overtopping and scour including coastal flooding.