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Coastal Groundwater Flow
Oral
Timu Gallien, MS, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of California, Los Angeles
Coastal flooding is a significant humanitarian and socioeconomic hazard. Rising sea levels will raise local groundwater tables and propagate wave energy landward, increasing backshore flooding. A field experiment at Cardiff State Beach near Encinitas, California was conducted to examine the interaction of beach groundwater, wave runup and overtopping. Preliminary results suggest the maximum overtopping intensity is in phase with the beach groundwater. Two numerical models, XBeach and PFLOTRAN are used to investigate the link between the beach water table and backshore flooding. Numerical modeling results are compared to field observations.