Development of a numerical wave uprush prediction tool for the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River shoreline Phase 2

Wave uprush and the potential for flooding are natural hazards that must be determined by the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) prior to the approval of a near-shore development. The purpose of calculating wave uprush is to recommend building sites that are outside of the wave uprush area (and floodplain in general) to land owners and municipalities, as well as provide information for flood proofing of existing buildings, roadways, etc. The CRCA has manually calculated wave uprush at 200 sites along the more than 200 km of shoreline in eastern Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Recently, there has been a need to compute wave uprush along an additional 260 km of shoreline. This project will examine the accuracy of existing CRCA wave uprush methodology, by comparing their manual calculations against field observations of wave uprush. The present CRCA methodology will then be extended and enhanced using computer models to predict the wave uprush throughout the entire CRCA jurisdiction. The results will be applied for shoreline management in eastern Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

Faculty Supervisor:

Leon Boegman

Student:

Hadiseh Bolkhari

Partner:

Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

Natural resources

University:

Queen's University