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SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI -- An interactive science exhibit demonstrating the potential flooding impacts from climate change is debuting this month. Funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation to Brown University, Applied Science Associates (ASA) in collaboration with exhibition planning and design firm Jeff Kennedy Associates, developed an interactive flooding exhibit that highlights the impacts of rising sea levels under different climate change scenarios. Seasons of Change: Global Warming in Your Backyard will tour science centers and museums throughout the Northeast beginning in mid January 2010. The exhibit will kick-off at the Ecotarium in Worcester, Massachusetts and consists of kiosks that provide hands-on interaction for visitors to see precisely how their local cities would be impacted by increased flooding caused by sea-level rise and coastal storms. The travelling exhibit is a project of Brown University's Center for Environmental Studies and Clean Air-Cool Planet's New England Science Center Collaborative in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Seasons of Change software was built by ASA as a stand-alone application for the kiosks. The software uses Google Earth to dynamically display the simulated impacts from various possible flooding events. The Google Earth mapping integration allows the exhibit to access the Google Earth framework, imagery, and three dimensional building models while controlling the level of user interaction. The kiosks take visitors through three water level scenarios: (1) no flooding, (2) flooding from storm surge, and (3) flooding from storm surge and sea level rise.

The interfaces and controls are designed for children as the main audience and users. The kiosks are entirely joystick and console button controlled, and allow users to choose zoom levels (city or neighborhood) and flood elevations as well as to navigate around the view using directional controls. Descriptions of the flood conditions for up to 30 cities and towns around New England are provided.

The software behind the flooding simulations is Geographic Information System (GIS) based, and makes use of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Elevation Dataset (NED) at a 10-meter resolution, supplemented with local topographic surveys where available. “ASA is pleased to be a part of this software development project with Jeff Kennedy Associates to bring flooding GIS visualization into the hands of museum goers” explains Kelly Knee, ASA’s project manager, who built the actual flood models used in the software. “The ability to increase awareness of the potential impacts of sea-level rise can only help with preparation for any worst-case scenarios.”

The touring Seasons of Change exhibit schedule of museums and cities across the Northeast includes:

The tour is scheduled to continue through 2015. For a full exhibit schedule contact ASA.

The New England exhibit was developed as a template for other regionally-based climate change exhibitions. ASA and Jeff Kennedy Associates will be collaborating on a similar presentation for the North Carolina region in future phases of the project.

ASA’s combination of science, GIS, and modeling has been used to provide inundation models and flood visualizations to many organizations for awareness and civic and emergency planning purposes including National Environmental Trust, Bishop Museum, Union of Concerned Scientists, New York Times, Boston Globe, University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center, University of Graz (Austria), Vanity Fair Magazine, and EPA CLIMB Project Team.

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