Researchers at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi are using advanced AI to forecast future sea levels, helping local emergency experts better prepare for coastal flooding.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Scientists at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi are using advanced artificial intelligence to forecast how sea levels are changing — and they’re looking farther into the future than ever before.
Local emergency experts said this new technology could help communities better prepare for flooding.
“There’s no question on anyone’s mind who looks at the data that sea levels are rising,” said Dr. Phillippe Tissot, chair for Coastal Artificial Intelligence at the Conrad Blucher Institute.
Tissot said the new AI model is built on decades of ocean data and could help reshape the future of the Coastal Bend shoreline.
He said the tool came together out of necessity as flooding becomes a more frequent concern.
“You need to plan for it long term and be aware of it long-term. More and more we have roads that flood. It’s not catastrophic in my mind but it happens,” he said.
Corpus Christi Emergency Management Coordinator Jayce Johnson said advancing technology means response strategies must continue to evolve as well.
“Now the hope is we will be able to have more detail, more reliable information. Giving us more time to make decisions whether it’s community planning, emergency preparation,” he said.
Johnson said this model is one of many tools they will use to stay prepared.
“So we know we have coastal flooding, or localized flooding because of thunderstorms and those kinds of situations. But we’ve been working through years with river sensing modeling through the National Weather Service,” he said.
While most people associate flooding with major storms, Tissot said calm, sunny days can also bring high water — and predictive tools can help forecast those events.
“It’s a few inches of water. But a few inches of water on the road still makes it dangerous and you can go through it. So those are the Sunny Day floods. Things that happen very often that are going to keep on happening more and more frequently and that we have to work around,” he said.
