Best practice in coastal flood forecasting

This project reviewed current methods of forecasting floods on coasts and identified how they could be improved, including any research needed.

Documents

Best practice in coastal flood forecasting - final report (309 KB) PDF

Best practice in coastal flood forecasting - technical report (5 MB) PDF

Best practice in coastal flood forecasting - summary (135 KB) PDF

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Details

This project is one of a group examining different sources of flooding in estuaries, on coasts, and in rivers.

This project is the final one in the series and the purpose was to investigate ways of improving coastal flood forecasting (CFF). It also aimed to provide best practice guidelines for the future development of CFF systems.

The objectives were to:

  • identify present and future needs and ambitions for forecasting coastal floods
  • categorise current CFF methods and explore their advantages, disadvantages and inconsistencies
  • shortlist a range of suitable CFF options and assess how well they meet present and future needs
  • outline the way forward for future CFF - including research that might be needed to deal with any gaps in how it’s currently carried out
  • review existing initiatives and develop a common understanding of the best way of going about forecasting coastal floods

Outcome

The outputs of this project will be of interest to all involved in operational real-time flood forecasting modelling. The technical report supports the ‘Guide to the Best Practice in Coastal Flood Forecasting (CFF)’ that‘s intended to assist the Environment Agency staff in developing CFF services.

The project started in 2002 and was completed in 2003 at a cost of £132,000.

Updates to this page

Published 15 February 2021