Welcome to the Coastal Risks & Engineering (CoRE) Research Lab.

Dr. Thomas Wahl
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
University of Central Florida
Email: t.wahl@ucf.edu
Research in the CoRE lab mainly focuses on connecting engineering and various science disciplines (e.g., oceanography, hydrology, meteorology, climatology) to better understand the vulnerability of coastal societies, built infrastructure, and fragile ecosystems under climate change conditions. We study changes in coastal sea levels (mean and extreme), ocean waves, and freshwater flows and the associated impacts to support the development of sustainable and resilient adaptation strategies.

Some of the topics we work on are:
  • Changes in sea level, storm surges, ocean waves, precipitation, and river discharges
  • (Coastal-)Engineering design concepts
  • Sustainability of human-natural systems in coastal zones
  • Extreme value analysis
  • Climate adaptation and resilience
  • Integrated coastal vulnerability and risk assessment
  • Stochastic and numerical modelling of tides, storm surges, waves, and river flows
  • Multi hazards
  • Coastal processes and hydrodynamics​
Our research work connects civil/coastal engineering and various science disciplines (e.g., oceanography, hydrology, meteorology, climatology) to better understand the vulnerability of coastal societies, built infrastructure, and fragile ecosystems under climate change conditions.
Research Highlights.

Latest News.

3 June 2021
PBS WUCF TV interviewed Dr. Wahl about how sea-level rise is already affecting the Central Florida.

Watch the interview here.
18 May 2021
​National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s blog on our recently published article in Nature Scientific Data.

Read the full paper: "A database of global storm surge reconstructions".
7 April 2021
Great news. Dr. Wahl has been awarded the Reach for the Stars Honor for his outstanding research contributions in Sea Level Science field.

Read the full announcement here.

Reach for the Stars Honorees Pushing the Boundaries of Earth and Space

Five faculty members are recognized for their outstanding research and creative activity, which has had national and international impact.
6 April 2021
Congratulations to Javed on being elected a Regional Representative for the North American Region at the Young Earth System Scientists Community. 

The YESS Community has new ExeCom and Regional Representatives for the period April 2021-March 2022.

We are happy to announce that YESS has a new generation of Executive Committee (ExeCom) members and Regional Representatives. Both groups are elected by the YESS Council and have a major role in the community.
2 April 2021
Congratulations to Ahmed for receiving Scholar Symposium Award for his poster presentation at the UCF Student Research Week. He presented his research on "Dependence between Drivers of Compound Flooding around the Contiguous United States Coastline" at the UCF Graduate Research Forum during the Student Research Week.

Check his poster here.
Picture
Elizabeth Klonoff (Vice President for Research and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies) announcing the awarded projects.
24 March 2021
Great news. Dr. Wahl has been awarded the 2021 IAPSO Early Career Scientist Medal in physical ocean science ​in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the research on changes in mean sea level, tides, storm surges, waves, and their interactions.

IAPSO - Early Career Scientist Medal

The IAPSO Early Career Scientist Medal honours Early Career Scientists for their outstanding research in the physical or chemical sciences of the oceans, and for their cooperation in international research.
17 March 2021
Congratulations to Victor for successfully defending his PhD dissertation. He is the first PhD student graduating from the CoRE Lab. He will be joining the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) in April 2021 as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
11 March 2021
Dr. Wahl was interviewed by the Eyewitness NEWS 9 at WFTV9 for our latest work on the effects of changes in tides on nuisance flooding in coastal areas in the United States.

Read the full paper here.
5 March 2021
Our recently published paper on "Evolving tides aggravate nuisance flooding along the U.S. coastline" in Science Advances is attracting a lot of attention from news and media. Here is a collection of news and blog posts. Read the UCF Today blog post about the study below.

Coastal Changes Worsen Nuisance Flooding on Many U.S. Shorelines, Study Finds

Nuisance flooding has increased on U.S. coasts in recent decades due to sea level rise, and new research co-authored by the University of Central Florida uncovered an additional reason for its added frequency.
1 Feb 2021
Our recent work "Extreme sea level variability dominates coastal flood risk changes at decadal time scales" published in Environmental Research Letters, IOPscience has been featured in a NOAA Blog.

​Read the full blogpost here.

Coastal Flood Risks Amplified by Extreme Sea Level Variability

Researchers from the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida recently published a study that shows how incorporating decade-long variations in extreme sea level (ESL) events, such as storm surge, in coastal flooding risk assessments can dramatically increase the severity of expected flooding and the associated economic losses. Their work, funded by CPO’s Climate Observations and Monitoring (COM) program, is showcased in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
28 September 2020
Our work on "Predictability of Extreme Sea Level Variations Along the U.S. Coastline" has been featured in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) blog.

Coastal Researchers Develop Models to Predict Extreme Sea Level Changes

When coastal researchers, supported by the NOAA Climate Program Office Climate Observations and Monitoring (COM) Program, developed extreme sea level indicators for the contiguous U.S. coast, they knew their work was only the first step in improving coastal flood risk assessment and management. These indicators, presented in Nature Scientific Data, describe variations in observed extreme sea levels.
16 September 2020
Dr. Wahl discusses CoRE lab's recent work "Predictability of Extreme Sea Level Variations Along the U.S. Coastline" on 10 Tampa Bay News.
10 September 2020
Dr. Wahl was featured on FOX 35 News channel for the CoRE Lab's ongoing research on storm surge prediction.
9 September 2020
Dr. Wahl and Dr. Rashid were featured on the Spectrum News 13 channel for their research work on storm surge prediction.

UCF Study Could Predict Future Hurricane Storm Surge

ORLANDO, Fla. - As we enter peak Hurricane season, University of Central Florida's National Center for Integrated Coastal Research team is developing models to better predict storm surges in the future. Storm surge is often the most dangerous threat to life and property along the coast during a hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.
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