56 Sydney Bohn and Evan Hill University of North Carolina Wilmington Faculty Mentor: Narcisa Pricope University of North Carolina Wilmington Sea Level Rise Hazard Assessment for New Hanover County, North Carolina ABSTRACT In the next one hundred years, sea level rise is going to signiicantly impact coastal communi- ties across the globe. The rising seas will displace people from their homes and cause harm to the utilities and infrastructure that communities depend upon, thus creating the need for proac- tive planning measures that often rely on geospatial modeling. New Hanover County is located in southeastern North Carolina between the Cape Fear River and the Intracoastal Waterway. Given that the county is on a peninsula and is at a relatively low elevation, property and in- frastructure are at a high risk of inundation. We used ArcGIS and modeling to determine what components of New Hanover County infrastructure are at risk of becoming inundated due to the combined effects of sea level rise and storm surges. We have identiied possible areas of inun- dation to the year 2100 with conservative and precautionary sea level rise models to ind what roads, stormwater systems, parks, superfund sites, and areas of land could become inundated. Due to their regional importance, we also analyzed in a spatially-explicit manner the extents to which the airport and port are likely to be affected. We conclude that New Hanover County will encounter signiicant planning and adaptation dificulties associated with inundation caused by the effects of sea level rise and storm surges, and that this work can help contribute towards alleviating them. Explorations |Natural Sciences and Engineering G lobal climate change is becoming an increasingly prominent issue as atmo- spheric CO 2 levels rise largely due to anthro- pogenic activity. One of the main impacts of climate change on coastal communities is sea level rise (SLR). A thorough understanding of this issue and advance planning measures are necessary steps in community adaptation to climate change. Not only will sea level rise affect the human landscape of a region, but it will also impact the natural ecosystem as a whole (Glavovic et al, 2015). It is important to perform hazard assessments in any region in order to identify and mitigate any poten- tial risks for the future (McGuire, 2013). The average elevation in New Hanover County ranges from 0 meters to 23 meters, and as such is especially vulnerable to sea level rise. The ultimate goal of this project was to use GIS technologies to provide the residents and governments of the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County a report of areas that could potentially become permanently or temporarily inundated by sea level rise, storm surge, or looding. This inal report includes maps and summary tables of several impacted areas within the City of Wilmington, as well as for other key areas outside of the City lim- its such as Wrightsville Beach. This assess- ment was performed in cooperation with the