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ASSESSING THE VULNERABILITY
OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NETWORK TO IMPACTS FROM
CLIMATE CHANGE: FOCUS ON
NEW ENGLAND
TREVELYN POTTER
DR. PATRICK HALPIN, ADVISOR
Climate Change Impacts in New
England
 Increasing temperatures
 Increasing precipitation and precipitation intensity
 Increase in severe weather
 Sea Level Rise
Wireless Communications
Infrastructure Siting Overview
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Thefoa.org
www.dasillc.com
Current Environmental
Considerations in Siting
 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
 FEMA and the 100 year Floodplain
 Wind Zones and Building Codes
Potential Impacts from Climate
Change
 Flood Damage
 Severe Weather
 Hurricanes
 Wind Damage
 Sea Level Rise
Wirelessestimator.com
FCC Registered Sites in Connecticut
Town Population Ranking
Population Percentiles
80
and
above
(High
Capacity)
60
through
80
(High
Capacity)
40 through 60 (Medium
Capacity)
Towns in Connecticut
Stamford,
Hartford,
Bridgeport,
Haven
Waterbury
New
West Hartford, Manchester, Greenwich,
Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, Hamden,
Meriden, Bristol, New Britain
Priority Ranked Sites
Results
Mapping the Vulnerabilities
Floodplain Mapping
400
379
Site Count
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
5237
26
44
39
4 12
44
4 12
Total
Medium Capacity
High Capacity
Hurricane Inundation
Site Count
20
15
10
5
0
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
Hurricane Strength
All Sites
Medium Capacity
High Capacity
Sea Level Rise
Data Availability for New England
Data
Category
Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts
New
Rhode
Hampshire Island
Vermont
Digital
Flood
Coverage
Digital
Elevation
Model
Partial
Partial
Partial
Partial
Complete
Partial
LIDAR-based
LIDAR
based
Non-LIDAR
LIDAR
LIDAR - partial
Hurricane
Inundation
Yes
Yes
Yes (ACOE only)
Yes (ACOE Yes
only)
Wind
Speed
No
No
Yes (FEMA map)
No
Yes
(for Yes
windpower)
Other
Natural
Disaster
No
No
No
No
No
Ice
(1998)
Telecom
Infrastruct
ure
No
Updated
1998
No
Updated
2007
No
Updated 2011
- LIDAR - partial
N/A
Storm
Limitations of Existing GIS Data
 Not all structures are registered with the FCC
 Digital flood mapping is not available for all areas,
particularly rural ones
 Hurricane Inundation data not broken down into
categories for all areas
 Lack of LIDAR-based and local scale sea level rise
mapping for many coastal areas
 Lack of fine-scale GIS wind data applicable to
infrastructure of this type
Lessons from the Past
 Ice Storm of 1998
 Hurricane Katrina
 Hurricane Irene
 Hurricane Sandy
Recommendations for the Future
 Consider areas of current “moderate risk” like 500 year
floodplains and adjacent areas when making siting
decisions
 Implement registration requirement for all licensed
antenna sites
 Avoid projected coastal inundation areas
 Develop uniform regional or national data sets for
vulnerability assessments
Questions