Superfund Climate Resilience: Vulnerability Assessment
Vulnerability Assessment
Consideration of climate change implications in cleanup projects is most effective through use of a place-based strategy, due to variations in the geophysical characteristics of contaminated sites, the nature of remedial actions, and local or regional climate and weather regimes. High-level climate screening identifies significant changes in future site conditions (such as temperatures, precipitation rates and sea level rise) and associated remedy protectiveness. The screening process involves:
- Evaluating the site remedy's exposure to climate or weather hazards of concern (such as high floodwater or soil subsidence).
- Evaluating the remedy's sensitivity to the hazards of concern (likelihood for the hazards to affect remedy protectiveness).
Where warranted after climate screening, a project team may choose to conduct a detailed climate vulnerability assessment.
Resources to help project managers and other stakeholders understand climate change implications and identify potential hazards at specific sites are available online from EPA and other federal agencies. The types of resources range from interactive desktop tools to extensive information compendiums that can support site cleanup decision making.
Information Resources and Types Available for Assessing Climate Change Effects | Temp-erature | Precip-itation | Wind | Sea Level Rise | Wild-fires |
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Department of Agriculture Forest Service Wildfire Risk to Communities
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EPA Climate Change Indicators in the United States website
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EPA Climate Resilience Evaluation & Awareness Tool (CREAT)
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EPA National Stormwater Calculator
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Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Map Service Center website
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National Integrated Drought Information System U.S. Drought Portal website
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National Interagency Coordination Center National Interagency Fire Center website
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Services Digital Coast website
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Environmental Information website
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Level Trends
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National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center website
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National Weather Service National Hurricane Center website
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National Weather Service Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH)
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National Weather Service Storm Surge Hazard Maps
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U.S. Federal Government Climate Resilience Toolkit: The Climate Explorer
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Climate Prepardness and Resilience website
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U.S. Geological Survey Coastal Change Hazards Portal
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U.S. Geological Survey Landslide Hazards Program website
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U.S. Geological Survey National Ground-water Monitoring Network Data Portal
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U.S. Geological Survey National Climate Change Viewer website
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U.S. Geological Survey National Water Dashboard - Online map-based viewer of provisional real-time water data and access to historical data such as peak streamflow at USGS observation stations across the nation | |||||
U.S. Geological Survey StreamStats
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