Looping Network Meetings

#34 December 2, 2022

Monday, 15:00 CET

Eli Lazarus

Thresholds in Road Network Functioning on US Atlantic and Gulf Barrier Islands

Abstract:
Self-organised channels in marshes and tidal flats are perhaps the iconic expression of coastal morphodynamic networks – but a more enigmatic expression of coastal morphodynamic networks occurs when sediment-laden flows push into the "fabric" of built environments, such as when storm surge courses through coastal streets. In this case, network structure is imposed: the layout of streets constitutes an allogenic rather than autogenic characteristic of the network system. Nevertheless, the morphodynamics (or hydrodynamics) of a natural hazard – storm surge, groundwater upwelling, landslides – may yield surprising patterns in network failure, including nonlinear critical thresholds. Tools and perspectives from graph theory are opening new ways of understanding coastal morphodynamic networks, and offer a means of formally comparing the states and behaviours of natural and anthropic systems. Clearer understanding of coastal morphodynamic networks may improve designs and applications of nature-based solutions for flood control and land-building in the context of climate change, and likewise improve prediction of, and adaptation for, direct impacts of coastal hazards in built settings.

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