Accelerating the Calculation of Risk of Coastal Flooding due to Hurricanes

Coastal hazards related to strong storms are one of the most frequently recurring and wide spread hazards to coastal communities today. In particular storm surge, the rise of the sea surface in response to wind and pressure forcing from these storms, can have a devastating effect on the coastline. Furthermore, with the addition of climate change related effects, the ability to predict these events quickly and accurately is critical to the protection and sustainability of these coastal areas.  One of the most important tools at our disposal is the computation of possible future risk, basically the probability of a particular  flood event, in the future.  This project will look to accelerate the process of evaluating these risk curves, called return curves, so that they can be done more quickly and accurately.