Part 2: RNLI climate app uses geospatial data

In his previous article, Matthew Wright mentioned that the RNLI was starting to analyse the impact of climate change on the organisation. 

This research included a number of questions, as follows.

• How might coastal erosion affect lifeboat stations? 
• How might sea state and other conditions at sea change, and what would that mean for our assets? 
• How could climate change affect how the waters around the UK and Ireland are used? 
• How might extreme weather, such as flooding events, affect the ability of our crew to access lifeboat stations?

The world is already experiencing the effects of climate change, with a greater chance of warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers, and more intense rainstorms in the UK and Ireland.  

Not only will this change the way people interact with the sea, but the increased likelihood and frequency of extreme weather events also poses significant risks to coastal infrastructure. As most RNLI assets are on the coastline, it's vital for us to understand and mitigate these risks.  

Wells lifeboat station was affected by the January storms and tidal surges along the Norfolk coast. While the damage caused incurred costs, the lifeboat was still able to launch.  

The results from this site specific study were eye-opening. We thought that the lifeboat station would be affected because of its coastal location, but we hadn't anticipated the impact inland. But we realised that the same analysis could not be repeated across the whole RNLI operational area in the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands with only publicly available datasets. 

To manage this challenge, RNLI bought specialist flood data that considered nine possible climate change scenarios between 2020 and 2080.

Using this future flood data, we created a risk score for each station. The score was based on proximity to flood zones; impact on local transport links; number of RNLI launches; and the RNLI Deaths, Risk and Injury (DRI) score (which we use to understand risk). The data was analysed and published to a GIS web-based application that allows users to access and interact with the results.  

In light of this user feedback, the app was expanded to include additional datasets that could add value to critical decision-making. Datasets from a wide range of sources were added, including the National Trust, UK Climate Projections (UKCP18), Met Office, WorldPop, British Geological Survey, Scottish government, Irish government and Esri UK – covering flooding, precipitation, drought, temperature, sea levels, storm damage areas, coastal erosion and slope failure.

Teams save time as they no longer have to search multiple external platforms for relevant information, and everyone is using the same trusted data sources, which improves consistency.      

Importantly, in some cases money has already been saved where site-specific assessments have not been required at the pre-decision-making stage because of the information available in the app. This means teams can carry out initial, high-level assessment of environmental considerations relevant to asset decisions before making any investment. Insights gained from the app have helped with decisions related to refurbishment materials for specific station upgrades.

RNLI's data analytics lead, Christian Prescott, said:

'Environmental data is fundamental to coast risk analysis. Knowing the operational environment and the conditions in which lifeboats operate now and in the future ensures that the right assets are deployed to the right area to deal with the risk ... the climate analysis app has saved considerable time and effort by consolidating all the data into a simple-to-use and intuitive application that can be easily manipulated.' 

Sarah Nightingale, strategic development and partnering manager added:

'The RNLI's purpose is to save lives at sea. Our vision to save everyone.... The climate analysis app is playing a critical role in building our understanding of these implications and laying the foundations for climate informed decision-making.'

At the start of the project we looked at flooding, but the feedback showed that we needed a greater breadth of climate-related datasets to make better informed decisions. While adding multiple datasets to the app has informed us how they affect our assets, the next job is to prioritise datasets and analyse how they will affect RNLI.    

An example of this has been a deep dive into Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs), developed by the Environment Agency, local authorities and others with coastal management interests. The first epoch has completed, which allowed us to analyse how initiatives in the past 20 years have impacted our assets. Using this information will allow us to understand the possible impacts on our assets during the next epoch, in areas that have similar characteristics and initiatives.

Getting a better understanding of the effect of all the different datasets will allow us to evaluate their value to create a single risk score for each station. Decisions can then be made on whether to retain them and keep them updated, as well as whether to investigate other data sources. 

We will also be looking to make the app accessible to more users around the organisation. Partners such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, who share similar geographical locations, have also expressed an interest in access to the app. 

The geospatial team has also gained valuable insight, recognising that the success of a tool should not be measured solely by the number of users or app views, but by the significance of the decisions informed by it. 

As emphasised in the evaluation study, the app does not need to be consulted daily or weekly; rather, when it is used, it is important that it is accessed by the correct individuals who are responsible for making critical decisions.  

The app is becoming a first port of call for climate-related information at a time where the organisation is taking on an increasingly strategic, future-facing mindset.