Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the United States. It is home to several archaeological and historic preservation zones, which, due to the city’s low-lying coastal location, are vulnerable to inundation from storm surge and sea level rise. As climate change is expected to worsen these impacts, understanding which areas are most at risk is key to protecting and preserving the city’s many historical sites.

These three maps display the risk of sea level rise/storm surge to the Historic Preservation Zones in St. Augustine, Florida, under three different sea height scenarios. To produce them, I first created a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from LiDar data. I then intersected the DEM with the City's Historic Preservation Zones in order to visualize the areas of inundation under three different sea height scenarios: 2 feet, 4 feet, and 7 feet. I also calculated the total inundation area in sq. meters for each scenario.

My results show that the Historic Preservation Zones would be minimally impacted under the 2 ft scenario. The 4 ft scenario shows impacts to some zones, particularly near the Castillo de San Marcos, Avenida Menendez, and Lake Maria Sanchez. The 7 ft scenario shows major inundation in every zone, with some zones being entirely underwater. This analysis can inform the City on which zones exhibit the greatest vulnerability and aid them in their efforts to increase resiliency to climate change impacts.

Data sources:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 2013 Lidar: St. Johns County, FL

City of St. Augustine Datahub