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Assessing the Vulnerability of the Telecommunications Network to Impacts from Climate Change: Focus on New England. Trevelyn Potter Dr. Patrick Halpin, Advisor. Climate Change Impacts in New England. Increasing temperatures Increasing precipitation and precipitation intensity
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Assessing the Vulnerability of the Telecommunications Network to Impacts from Climate Change: Focus on New England Trevelyn Potter Dr. Patrick Halpin, Advisor
Climate Change Impacts in New England • Increasing temperatures • Increasing precipitation and precipitation intensity • Increase in severe weather • Sea Level Rise
Wireless Communications Infrastructure Siting Overview Wikipedia Wikipedia Thefoa.org www.dasillc.com
Current Environmental Considerations in Siting • National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 • FEMA and the 100 year Floodplain • Wind Zones and Building Codes
Potential Impacts from Climate Change • Flood Damage • Severe Weather • Hurricanes • Wind Damage • Sea Level Rise Wirelessestimator.com
Results Mapping the Vulnerabilities
Limitations of Existing GIS Data • Not all structures are registered with the FCC • Digital flood mapping is not available for all areas, particularly rural ones • Hurricane Inundation data not broken down into categories for all areas • Lack of LIDAR-based and local scale sea level rise mapping for many coastal areas • Lack of fine-scale GIS wind data applicable to infrastructure of this type
Lessons from the Past • Ice Storm of 1998 • Hurricane Katrina • Hurricane Irene • Hurricane Sandy
Recommendations for the Future • Consider areas of current “moderate risk” like 500 year floodplains and adjacent areas when making siting decisions • Implement registration requirement for all licensed antenna sites • Avoid projected coastal inundation areas • Develop uniform regional or national data sets for vulnerability assessments