Whilst we had an unusually late start this year, two cyclones in two weeks has made up for lost time.

Over on the West Coast TC Damien started as a broad area of low pressure in the Timor Sea, intensifying as it moved along the Kimberley coast. Winds turned hurricane-force on Friday 7 Feb 2020, with the system making landfall as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone near Dampier on Saturday afternoon. Several Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) were directly under its path as it made landfall, with the Karrathra Aero AWS showing some amazing measurements as it recorded the cyclone 'eye' passing overhead.

Meanwhile over on the east coast we were brushed by TC Uesi as it made its way down from Port Villa in Vanuatu. We saw daily rainfall totals of over 250mm in the Tweed Heads region (around 1 in 5-year intensity). The local surfers were kept busy with offshore waves of over 4m (Hs) with individual waves approaching 7m (Hmax).

Australia has just seen its first Category three (Severe) Tropical Cyclone of the 2019/20 season. As a Low Pressure system it tracked over Darwin, before forming into Tropical Cyclone Claudia near the north Kimberley coast late on 11th January 2020.

Figure 1: Satellite view of STC Claudia as at 2020-01-13 06:00 UTC. Himawari-8 imagery courtesy of Japan Meteorological Agency

It developed into a Category 3 three cyclone, with winds wind estimated to exceed 118 km/hr. Luckily it continued to track west into the Indian Ocean, with Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) closer to the Australian mainland recording lower wind speeds - at Adele Island (AWS 200735) the peak wind speed was 65 km/hr (12 Jan 2020, 0700 hrs) and at Rowley Shoals (AWS 200713) the peak wind speed was 72 km/hr (12 Jan 2020, 1600 hrs).

Merry Christmas from the JBP team, and a reminder for us Australians living through 40 degree days and a continuing drought, that we are actually in storm season.

Pulling together data from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) Severe Storms Archive, we see that even in this hot weather we are moving into the peak cyclone months between December to March. This 'storm season' trend is quite similar to other states but for different weather events - typically convective thunderstorms in NSW and Victoria (South Australia is the exception which receives most of its rainfall during winter).

For the Australian 2019–20 summer/wet season we are expecting fewer than average tropical cyclones. This means less than our typical 10-13 events that form in nearby waters, of which four typically make it across our coast. But even with a lower outlook it's highly unlikely that we will be missed completely - with at least one cyclone recorded every season since the 1970s.

Over the New Years break keep an eye on the latest forecasts from the BoM of course, but for those interested in tracking systems ever earlier I have added links to my favourite sites below. Both the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) and Tropical Tidbits are starting to show activity in the southern hemisphere.

There is no current risk for Australia, with the storm 97P near Tonga to dissipate as it heads southwest. The newly formed Tropical Storm Phanfone is heading north, expected to cross the Philippines on the 25 Dec.

Good luck to our friends in the Philippines, and for Australians we will see you in 2020 to continue our work in Natural Disasters.

JTWC: https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html

Tropical Tidbits: https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/storminfo/

November 2019 marked the third birthday of our Australian office, and the fifth year of the JBA Group working throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

This years' projects have spanned India, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines; working on cyclones and typhoons, monsoons, storm surges and coastal erosion projects. In Australia we have completed a national cyclone alert tool, three Council-focused extreme weather forecasting systems, mapped flooding through two entire Council regions, two of our coastal engineering schemes have been constructed, and we have modelled the erosion prone areas over 100km of coastline.

But our favourite projects will always be those here in Queensland - the most natural disaster-prone state in Australia. For those passionate about increasing community resilience to natural disasters - this is the place our work has the most impact.

To support our passion of working in extreme weather we have now grown to a team of ten. We welcome:

Will Prentice - our Technical Director for Flood Risk Anna Meyer - our Business Manager Ellie and Barney - our flood hydraulic modellersSam and Lauchy - our hydrologists and forecasting system developersOllie, Clare, Mike and myself (Dan) working on coastal engineering and coastal processes.

We are searching for a coastal engineer and a flood engineer with three to six years experience to join our team and work towards a senior or Team Leader position.

Learn more about it here

G’day Australia, I have just started work with JBP in Brisbane as a coastal engineer, after making the move from the UK.

I am originally from the UK where I completed an undergraduate master’s in Civil Engineering, and have since been working with JBA Consulting in Haywards Heath, UK. I have worked on a wide range of projects differing in scale, design level, and sector. These have combined both structural and coastal engineering for design projects, working from an outline business case through to project execution. My projects have included the detailed design of harbour strengthening works, reinforced concrete pressurised chambers, fluvial asset management, and large coastal protection schemes. Two of my recent schemes have included East Rhyl Coastal Defence Scheme and Cardiff Coastal and Estuarine Defence Scheme.

Figure 1: Our coastal defence scheme in Rhyl will be mitigating the extreme coastal flooding experienced in 2013.

Coming to Australia I will be focusing on coastal design projects. I am already getting started, developing designs for new erosion protection structures in Mackay and the Fraser Coast. Coastal schemes in the UK are typically constructed with a 1 in 200-year standard protection, which is a bit higher than similar structures here in Australia, but the general principals remain the same.

I am excited to bring my experiences from the UK to Australia and develop my personal skills as well as working with the team here in Australia to deliver a variety of projects.

Figure 2: Not a bad first site inspection.

Over the next three months JBP is hosting Michael Thomson, a final year civil engineering student from Griffith University. Michael is undertaking his thesis in Nature-Based Coastal Erosion Resilience, which is a regular component of our international work in coastal risk management, however only receives periodic attention in our Australian projects. Michael is looking for case-studies, designs, costs and even coastal modellers who have tried to quantify the protection that may be offered using nature-based solutions for an open coastline. So please get in touch for more information. Over to you Mike!

My thesis

As a soon-to-be-graduated civil engineer, my interest is in coastal erosion, and the ways in which we can mitigate its effects with non-invasive, nature based (or soft) engineering strategies.

Image above: Erosion of Miami Beach, Gold Coast 2013. ABC News

The Need for Erosion Resilience:

In Australia, beaches are crucial for the tourism industry and a source of national pride. Australia has more than 10,000 beaches with more than 85% of the country’s population living within 50 kilometres of the coast. By the year 2100 sea levels are expected to rise by 0.8m, with increased storm activity, as a result of climate change. Therefore, Australia’s coastal zones must be successfully managed, maintained and protected against severe erosion.

Image above: Erosion protection at Kiribati. Deltares

Report Aims:

My report will combine a literature review and numerical modelling to explore the effects of nature-based dune resilience techniques. We will also be considering ways to perform cost-benefit analyses on soft engineering solutions. We hope this information will inform local councils and government bodies about the effects and advantages of using natural coastal resilience strategies.

Request for information

This is a call to any coastal engineers, managers or conservationists who could contribute case studies, designs, costing estimates, or relevant articles to help with this research.

We will be modelling the effects of vegetation in XBeach (see below example) and are very interested to see if anyone else has done the same. Appropriate thanks and acknowledgments would of course be included in the final report!

Find me at michael.thomson@griffithuni.edu.au

Image above: Modelling coastal vegetation in XBeach

Jeremy Benn Pacific (JBP) are a group of scientists, engineers, hydrologists, meteorologists and software developers. We provide investigations, modelling, engineering and forecasting services to assist our Clients in managing weather and climatic risks and opportunities.

We are growing and are currently looking for a Senior Coastal Engineer to join us in Brisbane.

If you desire to create bespoke design solutions which work with nature, we are looking for your coastal technical knowledge and ability to manage projects to assist us in delivering a range of coastal and maritime projects. You will undertake marine and estuarine numerical or physical modelling studies as well as concept and detailed design of coastal and marine civil structures (seawall, breakwaters, reclamation, dredging, etc.). Recent and ongoing projects being delivered include:

Field data collection and analysisDesign of coastal and maritime structuresCoastal hazards, waves, tides, erosion and morphological modellingEconomic appraisals and cost-benefit assessments

You must be a self-starter, capable of working to a high technical standard. The successful applicant will be based in our Brisbane office. As a senior appointment, the successful candidate will develop numerical modelling and design with the assistance from our scientists and engineers. You will directly report to our Coastal Technical Director.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

A desire to work on multi-disciplinary projects, including integrated coastal, estuarine and flood-risk assessments, as well as disaster managementDemonstrable operational experience in a wide range of coastal modelling and design packagesExcellent communication skillsRelevant degree(s) to coastal engineering (including a Bachelor of Civil Engineering)Five-years experience in coastal structure design and numerical modellingAn Australian working visa

Additional Qualifications

Experience in Python and/or another programming languageProject management qualificationAdditional academic qualifications, e.g. Master degree, PhDProfessional affiliations such as RPEQ, CPEngCoastal Management, Coastal Environment and/or Coastal Planning experience

Employment Package

A competitive salary commensurate with experience is available, together with a staff benefits package.

JBP has a professional development programme provides the opportunity to enhance and update technical and management skills throughout your career. Each member of staff is allocated a personal annual training budget.

Further information and applications

Interested applicants are to get in touch with Gildas Colleter, sending a CV and covering letter to gildas.colleter@jbpacific.com.au

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 8 March 2019

No unsolicited CVs from Agencies please.

With Queensland right in the middle of storm season it’s good to consider the typical accuracies within our flood predictions. Whilst our hydraulic engineers want an accuracy of ±10% from their flood models, several days out from the event our hydrologists think a reasonable flow forecast should be within ±50%. But it not until we talk to our meteorologists that we start to understand we aren’t really sure if a storm will even be here!

Our meteorologist Kat put this summary together of the different weather models this morning for TC Oma. Still no certainty whether the system will visit Australia or New Zealand.

GFS - The system is closest tracking point to the QLD coastline Thursday night (21st Feb) at 160E before being quickly entangled in an upper level trough and hitting New Zealand

ECMWF – Shows TC OMA tracking WSW with the very outer edges of the system reaching the Fraser Coast on Saturday night (23rd), before turning towards the Coral Sea

ACCESS – Shows OMA stalling at about 160E between Thursday and Sunday, causing it to weaken and slowly and shift towards the Coral SeaWeatherzone WRF – Weakening over the next two days, before re-strengthening with a westerly track and reaching the Fraser Coast on Sunday 24th.

Jeremy Benn Pacific (JBP) is celebrating its second birthday this October. Since our move to Brisbane in 2016, we are thrilled to still be here bringing our own style of Integrated Weather Risk Management into the Asia-Pacific region. We are also recruiting, so make sure any early-career water engineers look herefor more details.

To mark this occasion we have asked our staff about their most memorable projects so far into our journey.

Dan Rodger, Technical Director: My favourite project has been the development of new forecasting systems, bringing in a lot of the technology used in our international projects. This work has lead to my new interest in disaster risk management, which is quite different from the typical hydrologic modelling I was exposed to as a junior engineer. The challenges in this field are twofold - first we need to adapt our systems to use ‘big data’ which often means they are very complex. But secondly we need to maintain their simple system functionality to allow a greater emphasis on multi-agency use and cooperation between first responders.

Gildas, Technical Director: Working on the design of our international breakwater project for Rhyl, North Wales (UK) has been a highlight for 2018. The renewal scheme is designed to mitigate coastal flooding during extreme storms, beyond year 2100. To meet such an expectation, we challenged ourselves to deliver a fully stochastic design, where the traditional “safety coefficients” are replaced by “probability distributions”. Reviewing the numerical modelling was a great opportunity to meet my JBA colleagues in UK. Managing the physical testing done at the Queensland Government Hydraulic Laboratory in Brisbane was also very rewarding; it allowed our design to converge on a highly resilient solution. Working in such a diverse and focused international team allowed us to challenge a few established rules which created immense value for Rhyl. Now, I’m looking forward to see Balfour Beatty building the proposed defence scheme next year!

Pam, Coastal Engineer: My highlight of 2018 was working on the Douglas Shire Coastal Hazard Adaptation Strategy (CHAS). I was heavily involved in different stages of the project, from site inspecting crocodile infested areas to developing new models to assess the impacts of climate change on 120km of coastline. The purpose of the project was to encourage the council to address potential impacts on emergency response plans, land use planning and development decision making, and help mitigate coastal hazard risk for the community. The biggest challenge was having to constantly look out for crocodiles during site visits - one can never be too sure!

Hang, Hydraulic Engineer: This would have to be the Australian Flood Mapping project. The size of this project required us to pull together a massive amount of new knowledge and techniques, using a project team with colleagues in Australia, UK and Singapore offices. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support from the big JBA family. On a personal level, I now know so much more about the geography of this country.

Lochy, Engineer: My favourite project was the investigation of the Maroochy geo-bag groynes, in particular collecting data on the existing structure to inform future groyne design and construction practices. The structure has performed well over time, but is very aged and damaged, with some bags being split, punctured or completely dislodged. Data collected included taking dimensions in-situ and weighing the bags with an excavator and load cell. The data was used to obtain a statistical distribution of mass across the bags, and assess the level of deterioration of bags over time. This will all feed back into the design process, where we will design a new ‘soft’ structure that has an even longer lifespan.

We have an exciting opportunity for an early career water engineer or modeller to join our growing team in Brisbane. Any interested candidates should have a desire to work on the worlds water-related problems, including coastal, flood and disaster risk management. The role will use your existing skills in hydrology and flood risk within new multi-disciplinary projects, and will include new training in coastal engineering and disaster management.

Qualifications and Experience

• A relevant degree(s) in engineering, science or hydrology • Experience in flood modelling packages (e.g. Tuflow) and Geographic Information Systems • A desire to work on multi-disciplinary projects, including developing new skills in coastal engineering and disaster management

• Early skills in programming (e.g. XLM, C#, python, R package etc)

Further information and applications

Interested applicants are to get in touch with Daniel Rodger, sending a CV and covering letter to daniel.rodger@jbpacific.com.au.

No unsolicited CVs from Agencies please.

Both natural and manmade processes are contributing to the ongoing risk of erosion along Samoa’s coastline. During a recent visit I was able to see several signatures of coastal erosion due to beach sand mining. At a local scale this is likely to result in only a small quantity of sand being manually removed from the beach when compared to the overall sediment budget. However, for any areas currently experiencing a net loss of sand it will accelerate erosion, and at larger quantities could affected the most stable beaches.

Common signatures of this coastal erosion are the landward movement of the beach, starting with erosion to the first line of palm trees, and continuing to the common beach fales, roads and any utilities located along the foreshore.

For several local references see:

When under threat of erosion, it is common to consider a seawall as the fastest and most effective way to stabilise the coastline. But these often bring other problems, with the loss of the high-tide beach and their tendency to accelerate erosion on adjacent land.

So what can be done?

I am glad to see many initiatives taking place throughout the pacific, championed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). It includes this is a very useful guide to Ecosystem Based Adaptation, that I might very well start incorporating into our work in Australia:

Another approach undertaken in the neighbouring island nation of Tonga has involved switching to an offshore sand source. Whilst a more costly option, this will also play a part in the long term sustainability of their beaches. Find out more here: http://www.looptonga.com/tonga-news/offshore-sand-mining-alternative-beach-sands-begins-fafaa-island-51551

Last week I was able to give a talk on coastal processes to our next generation of engineers at the Noosa District State High School, Cooroy. Armed with our demonstration wave tank, I managed to splash enough water around the classroom to get them through an hour of me talking about waves, sediment and seawalls. That’s longer than many of my colleagues give me, so well done Cooroy Campus!

Any fans of the tank may also see our newest edition: a Mangrove forest.

To find out more about our physical demonstration tanks see here: https://www.jbpacific.com.au/rnd and remember to get in touch with me if you are in the Brisbane area and want to promote STEM.

A collection of interesting, different or strange approaches to manage coastal and flood risks that I stumbled across during a trip though South East Asia.

Flood risk in Cambodia and the Mekong River

With my trip now finished, I am collating my thoughts on my final journey through South East Asia: travelling from Vietnam into Cambodia on the Mekong River. Unfortunately, I had a mishap with my camera so I have borrowed these pictures from colleagues.

I’ve split this short blog into two sections, because after meeting the people of Cambodia and finding them to be some of the friendliest people I have ever met, I thought they deserve their own section.

The mighty Mekong I made my way into Cambodia to Phnom Penh. Here new high-rise buildings over shadow fishermen who still live their life on the river, which shows the two sides of the growing country.

Why am I so interested in the Mekong? Its because from a hydrological view it’s a fairly serious river:

It is the 12th longest river in the world, and the seventh longest in Asia. It has a catchment area of 800,000 km2. For reference France is around 550,000 km2.It runs through six different countries, many working through the Mekong River Commission for its ongoing management. Over 70 million people live within its catchment.These people include some of the poorest in the world, who balance the great benefits of the river, mostly in terms of agriculture and fisheries, with the ongoing risk of flooding.

I also heard that half of the fish used in the UK's fish & chips comes from the Mekong River. Not sure if I believed that one, so I'm looking for more inside information.

Above: New defences along the river banks.

Flood risk for the people of Cambodia Here I again need to point out the welcome I received as I travelled in Cambodia. It was the highlight of the journey and made sure this final stop had a lasting impression.

My interest in Cambodia, like the rest of south-east Asia, has always been due to the people living and working within the floodplains, balancing their livelihood against the risks. In terms of risk, Cambodia is considered to be within the top 10 most vulnerable countries to flooding. This is due to the scale of the floodplain, the high exposure of the rural areas to flooding, and the limited technical assistance.

Above: Villages positioned right next to watercourses were a frequent sight.

Up to 80% of the population live in rural areas, with one of five households still living below poverty line, partly due to the impacts of natural disasters. For example, flooding resulted in 70% of rice production losses between 1998 and 2002, which is one of the countries biggest exports.

Above: Villages living with flood risk

Unfortunately without my photos there are not too many more stories I can share, as words alone do not do this wonderful country justice. For anyone interested in any more information, you will have to go and visit yourself!

A collection of interesting, different or strange approaches to manage coastal and flood risks that I stumbled across during a trip though South East Asia.

Flood risk in Vietnam

Over the last week I have travelled from Hanoi in north Vietnam, to the Mekong Delta in the south. Whilst visiting a south-east Asian country in the rainy season (which runs from July to October) has its drawbacks, it does mean I get to see plenty of water. Vietnam is a country with known flood problems: due to either flash flooding and landslides, flooding from some of the world’s largest rivers, and storm surges from typhoons. Looking forward, a 1m sea-level rise is expected to put more than 14 million additional residents in the Mekong Delta at risk, and submerge half of the region’s agricultural land. Scary.

A reliance on structural flood measures In Hanoi I hunted out the some of the earliest known flood defences. The Hanoi levee bank (or dyke) system is mentioned in the early 11th century, with some archaeological evidence suggesting they were constructed as far back as the second century*. They now extend over 3000km and are impressive tall - see the photo below I took whilst standing on three story tall, earth levee bank, that is just metres away from an urban area.

Above: A part of a thousand year old levee bank system in Hanoi

The Mekong Delta I travelled south past Ho Chi Minh City to the seaward end of the mighty Mekong River. I was able to get a lift along one of the northernmost tributaries, near Mỹ Tho, Tien Giang province. These tributaries are awesomely named the “Nine Dragons of the Mekong Delta”, and have been the setting for human settlements as far back as the 4th century BC. Being historic trade routes there are thousands of houses located directly on the river banks. For these communities, located along the lowest areas of the Delta, there is the risk of both river flooding and storm surges, with the annual flooding some of the most frequent in any other country of the Mekong River Basin.

Above: Development along the banks of the river

I have found references to several flood mitigation strategies, but, given the vast area of the delta these will always have limited effect. Other approaches, such as through house raising and flood proofing have merit*, although rebuilding houses when people’s only source of income, rice crops, is also lost in a flood is thought to be almost impossible. (*see the bottom of this blog for references to an interesting study by the UNDP)

Above: Waterside houses in Tien Giang province

An early warning system for Vietnam In addition to structural flood risk mitigation strategies, other options include the development of an early warning system, which I am pleased to say is going ahead. Flood warning systems are one of the most cost-effective means to mitigate extreme weather events – with earlier warnings of events able to provide greater preparedness for residents and trigger evacuations if needed.

The JBA Group are currently developing the core forecasting engine of the National Fluvial and Coastal Flood Forecasting System for Vietnam. This will be used by the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting to turn five-day forecasts of rainfall and coastal systems into the likely impacts that will be experienced on the ground: through either river flooding or storm surges. This project is being funded by the World Bank, and we are working with Kisters (https://www.kisters.de/en/) and our local partner Harmony EV. Keep your eyes peeled for more information!

*Information on the Hanoi levee banks

*UNDP project investigating house raising:http://www.vn.undp.org/content/vietnam/en/home/operations/projects/closed-projects/environment_climate/Flood-Proofing-of-Poor-Coasta-and-Inland-Households-in-the-Mekong-River.html

A collection of interesting, different or strange approaches to manage coastal and flood risks that I stumbled across during a trip though South East Asia.

Flood risk in the floating villages

I started my journey on the east coast of Malaysia, on Borneo Island. It was not long until I was on a boat and got my first chance to see an example of their floating villages. These are entire towns built upon hundreds of piles and jetty structures, on a scale that I was not expecting. But it was their height just above the tide level that immediately stood out. I have found mixed references about the flood risk of these villages, ranging from several comments from our guides that they are 'high enough', to exactly the opposite; that they are only just higher than the sea levels achieved during the common monsoon season - which to me sounds like any extreme events and storm surges would lead to inundation.

Above: The Floating villages of Malaysia

Thankfully the threat of Tropical Cyclones in Malaysia is low, with the local reference to the country as the 'land beneath the wind' actually a reference to its position south of the typhoon belt. With the main flood risk due to heavy monsoon rainfall the position of these villages may actually be safer that the inland valleys. However they remain at an extremely high risk of tsunami, with the 2004 Asian tsunami resulting in huge losses of life and property.*

Thinking further ahead, I wonder how resilient these villages will be to future changes in sea level? Whilst one wooden structure may be easier to raise than a single slab-on-ground house, the scale of these villages around the country must surely pose a challenge for the future.

Erosion risk management

As a nation of islands, I was in a coastal engineer’s paradise. I heard reference that around 30% of Malaysia’s shorelines are eroding, and as typically the case this erosion was most displayed adjacent to hard structures and areas with poor planning.

Above: Not a bad view, but perhaps not during a storm

The major harbours and jetties of the larger towns were all as expected: rock lined or with grouted masonry, and in good condition. But as I went further onto the outer islands it was clear that finding suitable rock was a problem. Coastal villages were either unprotected, some had seawalls made of concrete blocks or rubble, and some simply made do with sand-filled sacks which are a far cry from the GSC revetments seen in Australia.

Above: Right: A seawall made of concrete blocks/slabs. Left: Sand bags around an eroding pier

I was happy to see that hard defences were not the only way of managing the coast. As demonstrated on Sipadan Island (one of the best natural dive sites in the world, and now a nature reserve) they have used a change in policy to remove several resorts that were once based within the coastal zone. Now only a handful of structures remain, and they appear to be their last legs...literally. When I was asked if a small seawall would be effective at defending these remaining structures I was reluctant to agree. Why not get rid of them altogether? No building = no erosion problems, right? Of course how, or if, we should protect natural systems against erosion is somewhat of a trickier issue.

Above: I think I would walk away from this one...

I have had a great time on the Borneo Island, and am now off to see the coastlines and floodplains of Vietnam.

* The best (but not most recent) resource I found on flood risk is by Ngai Weng Chan:http://www.eria.org/Chapter_14.pdf

If anyone knows of other discussions, resources or projects in the area please get in touch as I would be interested in finding out more.

This week I was in Mossman, far north Queensland, with Elisa Zavadil from Alluvium, where we were using our wave tank to learn about how coastal risks will change over time.

So why the big red 'climate change' watering can? Its because climate change is not only expected to affect floods and droughts on land, but also sea levels, cyclones and coastal risk. By changing the water level within our tank just a few centimetres, we can see larger waves reach our shoreline, higher wave run-up and greater volumes of wave overtopping.

For more information on our physical models, and how they can be used by universities and STEM ambassadors, look here.

What about a new portable hydraulic flume. Not to be put off from the lack of publicly available retail options, our UK team from JBA-Bentley have asked our favourite physical modellers Hydrotec to whip one up just in time for the Christmas break. The flume currently has: • A box and RCP culvert • A range of trash screens (from terribly bad designs to some which are almost a good idea) • Tree-pole trash screens (our favourite) • Different inlet structures • A sluice gate • A fish pass

Good luck with it guys! Unfortunately we are still stuck here with our mini flume (goo.gl/sqa8sf).

We are looking for a new graduate that wants to solve the worlds water-related problems. The position will suit someone with a background in hydrology, science or engineering, with an interest in weather extremes.

We are looking for someone with:

A relevant degree(s) in engineering, science or hydrologyKnowledge of extreme value theory and its applicationsAn appreciation or early skills in programming (e.g. XLM, C#, python, R package etc)An interest in numerical modelling.

They will join our team at JBP, and continue our focus of integrating technology within science and engineering. You will be working to progress the development of new forecasting technology into traditional water management disciplines, undertaking assessments in hydrology, dams and reservoirs, flood risk and surface water.

Recent and going projects being delivered for our Brisbane office include:

• The development of the Patawalonga Lake forecasting system for gate operations (for flood alleviation) • The QLD-wide flash flood and storm surge forecasting prior to Cyclone Debbie • The development of QLD-wide flood maps for surface water and fluvial flood risk • The development of the JFlow hydraulic model to link with national weather forecasting systems.

Further information and applications

If you wish to discuss opportunities informally and in complete confidence please contact Daniel Rodger, Technical Director on 0420 644 348.

Please send your CV and covering letter to Daniel.rodger@jbpacific.com.au.

No unsolicited CVs from Agencies please.

Closing date: 15/11/2017

We have just finished a week of coastal site inspections in Far North QLD using AssetCoast Australia. It uses iPad-enabled coastal asset data collection functions (running on the GISmapp platform), provides a standard methodology for condition assessment, and assesses the key risks posed by storm tide inundation and beach erosion. The system has been modified from its UK-origins following field trials in WA, and now has a greater focus on beach management and Australia's range of 'soft' coastal defences rather than 20 types of seawalls (sorry England!).

Its currently being used for data collection for the Douglas Shire Council's Coastal Hazard Adaptation Scheme (CHAS). On our 150km round trip we visited 23 beaches, captured information on their primary and secondary defences, located all associated assets, mapped access points for future inspections, georeferenced all our photos, performed condition assessments, and identified and geotagged any structural defects. Not bad for a few days work! All the information is linked to the GISmapp webpage; which links all field data with available coastal inundation (storm tide) and coastal erosion estimates.

AssetCoast is just one of the templates available on the GISmapp platform. If you would like any information on developing your own iPad/online app system for any data collection, just let us know.

Well done to the JBA Group:

Ranked 6th out of 100 UK and International engineering companiesWon ‘Designer of the Year’ based on our incorporation of new innovation within flood and coastal risk management

This October we are planning a two-day training course in wave modelling. To find out more information please see our initial course brochure .

The course will cover coastal and wave processes, and attendees will learn how to establish a SWAN wave model, simulate wave conditions and extract results from the nearshore. SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) is an industry-standard wave model freely available for your own use (http://swanmodel.sourceforge.net/).

If this is something you would be interested in attending let us know and we will keep you updated. The final course dates and costs will depend on numbers, so register your interest soon!

Nine months down, and many more to come! After flying through our first nine months of business, we have our sights firmly set on our one year milestone. But lets face it - projects involving numerical modelling, hydraulics and flood forecasting can often be a little difficult to explain when our friends ask us what we do. So this month we're looking back at the success of our mini-flume, as demonstrated below by Jeremy, which is bridging the gap and helping us to demonstrate the ins and outs of our jobs.

The mini-flume is completely portable, with dimensions approximately 1200mm long and 200mm wide rectangular channel. It features typical engineered structures such as weirs, bridges, culverts and debris screens, and is particularly useful in helping to understand some of the causes of flooding and how the incorrect design of hydraulic structures can lead to problems.

If you know of an event that could use the mini-flume, particularly in the promotion of STEM, please get in touch.

Perhaps its just me, but I had no idea these existed away from the science labs. So it was to my amazement that our UK team have just finished working on the design, procurement and management of a new installation in England.

The screw is being used in a pump station at an environmentally protected site, which needs to maintain water levels within +/-150mm of the ground level. The project constraints meant that a traditional submerged pump would not be suitable, and instead a screw pump was selected due to its ability to pump water at much lower speeds. Amazingly it also means a fish friendly option..... Although I wouldn’t want to be the first fish to try the voyage.

The pump it’s self is a vinyl ester construction, with stainless steel fittings minimising maintenance. The total weight of the unit installed was around 6 tons. Unfortunately, the screw itself is enclosed, so it can’t be used as a science demonstration. Still, I am sure Archimedes would be proud!

After taking the long journey from its workshop in Leeds, our demonstration hydraulic flume has arrived in Queensland. We recently performed an afternoon of demonstrations in our office in Spring Hill, using the tank to show the principles of open channel flow. What more could you want on a Friday?

The mini flume is a scale model of a river or stormwater channel, driven by a system of recirculating pumps and featuring typical engineered structures such as weirs, bridges, culverts and debris screens. It is particularly useful in helping to understand some of the causes of flooding and how the incorrect design of hydraulic structures can lead to problems.

The mini flume is completely portable, with dimensions approximately 1200mm long and 200mm wide rectangular channel. It fits inside the back of a large car and can be set up inside, for example in a classroom or office.

If you want to attend one of our Friday demonstration sessions, or know of an event that could use the flume, just get in touch.

We are growing. We have an to help drive our business forward. You will be technically strong, a leader in the field, with passion and drive to develop business in new markets, to conceive and deliver new innovations, to manage client relationships and to nurture and lead staff.

Importantly you will need to think differently. The role is as you make it – you will have a degree of autonomy, scope to find a new direction and room build your own team. If you have ideas involving something new, or want to target a new market, we will listen. This could include developing new tools, undertaking new research, using our available global flood maps to work with different industries, working in developing countries, using drones to support our vulnerability assessments etc… lets make it happen.

In return, we will provide you with the opportunities and support you need to take your career to the next level. Your role will involve:

Developing a business plan to expand our water sector, which will include local, domestic and international work.Supporting business innovation and business development across JBP and the JBA group.Managing projects involving water. Depending on your speciality this could include flooding, hydrology, stormwater, catchment management, droughts and water balance projects. Leading numerical modelling studies, including hydrology and 1D/2D hydraulic modelling.Leading and developing the technical skills of less experienced colleagues.Managing clients, projects and tenders.Writing and reviewing technical reports.

Role requirements

The successful candidate would be based in our Brisbane Office. They should have a degree in Science or Engineering with at least 10 years’ professional experience in Australia. They will have extensive water-related experience, including some or all of the following: Flood studies, hydrology studies, stormwater assessments, impact assessments, flood risk management planning, work with the World Bank/Asian Development Bank/UNDP etc. They should be chartered or an RPEQ.

Applicants should be able to demonstrate self-motivation, personal organisation, and an ability and desire to innovate. Excellent verbal, written and presentation skills are essential. The ability and willingness to travel, including internationally, is important.

Non-Australian residents have a current and valid permit to work in the Australia.

Salary and benefits.

A competitive salary is available together with a comprehensive benefits package and profit share. We are committed to ensuring that all staff are able to work to their full potential. JBP sets aside $2,000 per person per year for their professional development and training.

Making an application

If you wish to discuss the post informally and confidentially, or to apply for the position, please contact Daniel Rodger: Daniel.rodger@jbpacific.com.au or call 0420 644 348.

Applicants will then be asked to send a covering letter explaining how you meet the role requirements, and a CV.

No unsolicited CVs from Agencies please. All Agencies should note that if JBP receives an application via other means - even if it comes after your first contact with us, there will be no contractual entitlement to an introduction fee or other fees. In sending us any applications you are deemed to have agreed to these terms.

Recently the Environment Agency have released their best practise guidance framework on the development of Coastal Forecasting Systems. I was able to work on the good practice framework with a range of technical experts from JBA, HR Wallingford, the Environment Agency, Met Office and National Oceanographic Centre.

Large parts of the UK are at risk of coastal flooding, in a scenario that is becoming increasingly common in Australia as more infrastructure is developed at the coastline. A major form of coastal risk management has been through the development of comprehensive forecasting systems, which offer advanced warning of coastal surges, waves, overtopping and inundation up to a week in advance.

The new framework is designed to bring greater consistency when developing these systems because, simply put, they can be very complicated. Unfortunately, there is no one numerical model capable of simulating all of the processes required to predict a coastal risk. Instead a suite of models need to be coupled together, which typically include global, national, and local scale models to simulate atmospheric processes, wave transformation, overtopping, coastal inundation, in addition to linking with rainfall and river models.

This Good Practice Framework gives a good overview of how these systems can be developed and reviewed if already in place. It’s a very useful resource to have, and should be relevant to the international community.

Find it here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/570156/Coastal_flood_forecasting___a_good_practice_framework_-_report.pdf

Whilst in the UK Dan Rodger worked with the JBA Trust (http://www.jbatrust.org/) on the development of several demonstration wave tanks. These are just some of many physical models the Trust use to support education and training activities, in particular the promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. Whilst a little smaller than the Deltares Delta Flume, it is fully portable and able to be transported as needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yNoy4H2Z-o&feature=youtu.be

In this 12 minute video, Dan uses the wave tank to demonstrate the effectiveness of different types of coastal defences on reducing overtopping and flood risk. The demonstration measures the rates of overtopping for the following defences and conditions: (i) a beach during a storm surge, (ii) vertical and recurved sea walls (with and without a beach), (iii) stepped and sloped revetments, (iv) rock armour, and (v) a submerged near-shore breakwater.

For those in Australia who would like to see the tank either for internal training or promotion of science and engineering please get in touch as JBP have our own tank available for Queensland (and perhaps NSW if they are lucky).

Is this free work experience or do I need to pay them?

I managed to snap this pic whilst in Western Australia when these little guys decided to try their hand at coastal asset inspections. If only we had the waterproof case for the ipad – it could have been a good way to check the toe condition.

Whilst I don’t condone anyone monitoring my progress (particularly at such a nice spot) we can see where they like to hang out. Maybe we should change our AssetCoast tool into a Dolphin Tracker – DolphinCoast?

http://www.jbpacific.com.au/assetcoast

Having been lucky enough to visit two of the most famous (arguably) surfing beaches in the UK and Australia recently I was left thinking about their value.

First was the newly opened Surf Snowdonia, a man-made artificial wave garden in north Wales. Whilst the UK has many surfing beaches, how many can boast of near perfect conditions, left and right hand breaks, and a constant 150m long wave that you can catch every 5 or so minutes? Calculating the value I received when visiting the 'beach' was easy, as I paid an entry fee of around $60 AUD. Fast forward two weeks and I am standing on the shores of the Gold Coast, Australia, only this time there were no waves at all. However, even with no surf and no entry fee the beach still provided me with a day out, with the local cafes the clear winner. And herein lies the question: how can we put a value on a non-surfing beach?

Luckily, this question has been with me for a while! JBP, in addition to JBA Consulting and the JBA trust, have recently supported Griffith University's Industrial Affiliates Programme (IAP) to answer exactly that. For the last four months Courtney Wharton, a final year BEng student, has been putting together a number of Australia and International practises to develop an approach to value non-surfing beaches.

We considered tangible values such as assets and infrastructure constructed within the beach foreshore, and the properties protected against extreme coastal processes (such as erosion and wave overtopping) due to its protective capabilities. More difficult were the intangible elements that would be lost if the beach did not exist, such as the income drawn by tourism and day trippers. Importantly, it also includes an approach to value the public amenity by local residents, which considers the value the beach adds to the local community.

We tested the methodology on a local beach at Redcliffe, QLD, to support future investment planning and answer the question of how much should we invest in coastal protection over time. The study found the total value added to the local community approached $100M over a 50 year period - quantifying what we already knew: that although they are a free resource our beaches provide us with a great value.

Now completed, the methodology is available for economic assessments, cost:benefit studies, and justification for future investment in coastal protection. Just get in touch to find out more.

Yesterday’s office launch in Singapore marks another great leap for the JBA Family as we continue to grow in the Asia-Pacific region. Our regional team now have offices in Singapore (JBA Risk Management Pte Ltd), Australia (JBP) and Cambodia (MMA), allowing us to grow our unique style of weather risk management. We now have over 400 staff working in 20 offices based in five different countries, and proudly owned by our staff. With the new offices now open for business, we thought some introductions may be useful!

Jeremy Benn Pacific (JBP), based in Australia, will have a focus on Integrated Weather Risk Management. The team is led by Dan Rodger, who considers the integration of new technology within extreme weather management to be an exciting emerging market, where gains can be made across a range of sectors. Dan explains "all operations exposed to weather can benefit from these new systems. Our AssetCoast tool, which combines ipad data collection, risk mapping and cloud computing, is being used to prioritise coastal defence works and develop investment plans for local government. Our new Weather ForeSight tool, which converts rainfall forecasts to flood maps, is being taken up by Asset Managers to predict road closures a week ahead. Construction worksites will soon be benefitting from our inclement weather predictions for everything from working at height, crane operations and scheduling concrete pours, and we now have our Port and Marine Management Systems coming on-line predicting UnderKeel Clearance for ships and terminal berth closures.

This focus on risk management continues with our JBA Risk Management office in Singapore. Led by Iain Willis, the office has a focus on the insurance and reinsurance sector, providing a range of large-scale hazard maps, data, models, and consultancy support to the global insurance sector. This includes national-scale, high resolution flood maps at a 30m resolution which cover the Asia-Pacific region, and our very own catastrophe model that converts this data into financial loss estimates. See here to see Iain’s recent discussion on the growing risks to the Asia insurance industry.

Rounding out the team are the Mekong Modelling Associates (MMA). Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, they have a focus on hydraulic modelling, working on projects related to floods, hydropower, water networks and major water treatment works. Anthony Green, who leads the office, says "this is an exciting time for catchment management in South East Asia with the need to both adapt to climate change and also to balance the needs of economic growth against environmental and social justice agendas”. MMA provides expertise in hydrology and hydraulics covering the whole of the Mekong river basin and has links to local and international universities and research centres.

Please get in touch for any more information on our teams or our work.

Well done to our JBA (UK) team on their work on the Isle of Man National Strategy on Sea Defences, Flooding and Coastal Erosion. Tynwald, the Isle of Man Parliament, approved the strategy which has been based on JBA's analysis and evidence base. It is the first of its kind for the Island that assesses combined risk from river, coastal and surface water flooding together with coastal erosion. It identifies a list of those areas most at risk, now and in the future as a result of climate change, and suggests appropriate adaptation responses.

Read more about the strategy here

Recently Libby Wood from our JBA (UK) family has been sharing her experiences promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in primary and secondary schools. The need to promote these subjects is just as relevant in Australia, with a recent Engineers Australia policy note (2015) identifying our own falling participation rates at a high school level.

Read about Libby's experiences on how we can work with our local schools here, and keep your eyes open for our Demonstration Mini-flume: which is almost finished construction and about to set sail to Australia to promote our industry.

Well done to our JBA (UK) colleague Sue Brown who recently attended the Renewable UK Global Offshore Wind Conference. Read her views here

Whilst in Munich, Germany, I stopped by to see the famous Eisbach – a standing wave capable of being ridden by surfers. The wave is formed as the fast moving water discharging from the manmade channel slows because of the downstream water, causing a hydraulic jump. The shape of the wave has been improved by engineers over the years by adding concrete blocks downstream of the bridge, and tying boards to the upstream side – the latter able to be seen in the video. These boards have had a smoothing effect on the water, leading to the ridable wave even when the flow is low. We were told the sheet flow was only about 0.4m deep, meaning it isn’t the best place to fall off the wave. Never-the-less, being able to surf 500km from the nearest coastline makes it a popular feature.

To view the video, click here