Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
As sea levels rise, there has been an increase in research focused on the protection of shoreline infrastructure and transportation systems that may increasingly suffer from permanent capacity and accessibility reduction. This talk focuses on Abu Dhabi, UAE, a city vulnerable to inundation due to its network of low-lying islands and identifies protection strategies that will minimize transportation network delays. The model considers hydrodynamic interactions and traffic assignment. The results show some shoreline portions are critical, and their protection leads to lower congestion, while there are combinations of shoreline protection that worsen the congestion levels. The results also show that in some cases, the marginal effects of protecting one precinct may yield a better reduction of congestion than multiple other precincts. This research can provide a general framework for the protection of transportation infrastructure against sea level rise.
Bio: Aaron Chow (Course 1-E, Environmental Engineering PhD '08) is a Research Scientist working at the Transportation Infrastructure Management Laboratory, Division of Engineering at NYU Abu Dhabi. He is currently investigating the inundation impacts of sea level rise on the UAE coastline. Prior to this he worked in Waltham, MA as an environmental consultant for environmental litigation before returning to MIT as a postdoc specializing in the fate and transport of buoyancy-driven flows, in particular desalination brine discharges into the marine environment of Kuwait.
As sea levels rise, there has been an increase in research focused on the protection of shoreline infrastructure and transportation systems that may increasingly suffer from permanent capacity and accessibility reduction. This talk focuses on Abu Dhabi, UAE, a city vulnerable to inundation due to its network of low-lying islands and identifies protection strategies that will minimize transportation network delays. The model considers hydrodynamic interactions and traffic assignment. The results show some shoreline portions are critical, and their protection leads to lower congestion, while there are combinations of shoreline protection that worsen the congestion levels. The results also show that in some cases, the marginal effects of protecting one precinct may yield a better reduction of congestion than multiple other precincts. This research can provide a general framework for the protection of transportation infrastructure against sea level rise.
Bio: Aaron Chow (Course 1-E, Environmental Engineering PhD '08) is a Research Scientist working at the Transportation Infrastructure Management Laboratory, Division of Engineering at NYU Abu Dhabi. He is currently investigating the inundation impacts of sea level rise on the UAE coastline. Prior to this he worked in Waltham, MA as an environmental consultant for environmental litigation before returning to MIT as a postdoc specializing in the fate and transport of buoyancy-driven flows, in particular desalination brine discharges into the marine environment of Kuwait.
