Climate Resilience and Benefit–Cost Analysis: A Handbook for Airports (2019)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

140 Adaptive Capacity: The capacity of a system to adapt if the environment changes. Aeronautical Revenue: Airport revenues derived primarily from landing fees or other rents related to the airside of an airport. Airport Climate Risk Operational Screening (ACROS): A software program, published as part of ACRP Report 147 (Dewberry et al. 2015), useful in screening for airport climate risk. Airport Emergency Plans (AEPs): Essential emergency-related and deliberate actions planned to ensure the safety of and emergency services for the airport and the community in which the airport is located. See https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/?advisory_circulars/index. cfm/go/document.information/documentID/74488. Airport Enterprise Risk Management: Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a proactive approach by which threats to and opportunities for an organization are identified, evaluated, and integrated across all disciplines. See ACRP Report 74: Application of Enterprise Risk Man- agement at Airports (Marsh Risk Consulting 2012). Airport Master Plan: A plan used for the long-term development of an airport. See https:// www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/?go/document.information/ documentID/22329. Airport Weather Advanced Readiness (AWARE): A toolkit to help airports and their stakehold- ers plan for, respond to, and recover from significant weather events. See ACRP Report 160: Addressing Significant Weather Impacts on Airports: Quick Start Guide and Toolkit (ICF Inter- national 2016). Airports Capital Improvement Plan (ACIP): An FAA plan to prioritize projects critical to airport development and capital needs for the National Airspace System. See https://www.faa.gov/ airports/aip/acip/. Base Case (or Baseline): A reference point in a benefit–cost analysis or financial feasibility analysis representing what is expected to occur if the proposed project is not undertaken; it should represent what the airport would do instead of the subject project. Benefit–Cost Analysis (BCA): A formal economic analysis to determine if a proposed project has merit by assessing both its benefits and costs from society’s point of view (as opposed to the more narrow focus of a financial feasibility analysis). Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS): NOAA organization that gathers oceanographic data along U.S. coasts to protect life, property, and the environ- ment. CO-OPS is the authoritative source for accurate, reliable, and timely water-level and Glossary

Glossary 141 current measurements that support safe and efficient maritime commerce, sound coastal management, and recreation. See https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/?about.html. Consequences: The outputs that drive economic impacts (e.g., income, jobs, taxes, national or regional output) in an economic impact study. Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP): A standard experimental protocol for study- ing the output of climate models (called “general circulation models”). CMIP provides infra- structure in support of climate model diagnosis, validation, intercomparison, documentation, and data access. See https://cmip.llnl.gov/. Criticality: An evaluation done in a risk analysis to determine how important or costly a service interruption would be. Economic Impacts: An evaluation of the income, taxes, jobs, and gross output produced due a change in final demand in an economy. Economic Life: An FAA definition referring to the period of time during which an asset can be expected to perform adequately relative to alternatives or otherwise be useful to an owner. Exceedance Curve: Function based on history or projections of the probability of water rise to specific levels. Financial Feasibility Analysis (FFA): An analysis to determine the private returns to an invest- ment in a particular asset (as opposed to the more general focus of a BCA). General Circulation Models (GCMs): Numerical models representing physical processes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and land surface; the most advanced tools currently avail- able for simulating the response of the global climate system. See http://www.ipcc-data.org/ guidelines/pages/gcm_guide.html. Greenhouse Gases: Gases (e.g., carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbon) that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation. Heat Map: A graphic in a risk analysis showing both the vulnerability of an asset to a threat (like climate change) and criticality (importance) of the asset to its owner. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): The international body for assessing the science related to climate change. See http://www.ipcc.ch/. IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5): The most recently published assessment of climate change. IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4): A prior assessment published in 2007. Life-Cycle Cost: The investment, operating, maintenance, renewal, and shut-down costs related to an asset over its life. Localized Constructed Analog (LOCA): Statistical method used to downscale CMIP5 climate projections for North America. See http://loca.ucsd.edu/. Mean Higher High Water (MHHW): The average height of the daily diurnal high tide recorded at a specific tide station. Monte Carlo Simulation: A technique used to model the probability of different outcomes in a process that cannot easily be predicted due to the intervention of random variables. It is a technique used to understand the impact of risk and uncertainty in prediction and forecasting model.

142 Climate Resilience and Benefit–Cost Analysis: A Handbook for Airports National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): U.S. environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President’s Council on Environmen- tal Quality. The law was enacted on January 1, 1970. See https://www.energy.gov/nepa/ downloads/national-environmental-policy-act-1969. National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS): An FAA program that identifies nearly 3,400 existing and proposed airports that are significant to national air transportation and thus eligible to receive federal grants under the Airport Improvement Program. It also includes estimates of the amount of AIP money needed to fund infrastructure development projects that will bring these airports up to current design standards and add capacity to congested airports. See https://www.faa.gov/?airports/?planning_capacity/npias/. National Priority Rating: A method for evaluating the relative merit of projects in the FAA’s ACIP process. Net Present Value (NPV): Measurement of net benefit or profit calculated by subtracting the present values of cash outflows (including initial cost) from the present values of cash (or benefit) inflows over a period of time, taking into account the opportunity cost of capital. Non-Aeronautical Revenue: Sources of revenue, including rents and fees, attributable to activi- ties outside of the aeronautical area of an airport. North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88): A vertical measure of height established for vertical control surveying in the United States of America based on the general adjust- ment of the North American Datum of 1988. Physical Life: The time period during which an asset can physically operate for its intended purpose. Relative Sea Level (RSL): The position and height of the sea relative to the land. Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP): Refers to scenarios from the most recent IPCC AR5 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5 climate scenarios, with RCP8.5 assuming the least mitigation of greenhouse gases and therefore the greatest climate risk. Requirement Life: An FAA definition referring to the period over which the benefits of the project will be greater than the costs. Resilience: The capacity for a system to absorb stresses and maintain function in the face of external stresses imposed on it by climate change. Resilience Team: A group of individuals with different technical backgrounds tasked with evaluating the risks of climate change and maintaining the resilience of an airport through adaptation. Risk: Probable exposure to uncertain outcomes that could result in identifiable losses. Safety Management System (SMS): A process to help airports detect and correct safety prob- lems before they result in aircraft accidents or incidents. See https://www.faa.gov/?airports/ airport_safety/safety_management_systems/. Scenario Case: Represents a range of one or more alternatives that could be undertaken to achieve the objective (such as adapting to climate risk) identified by an analyst. Sustainability Plans: Initiatives incorporated into airport master plans for reducing environ- mental impacts, achieving economic benefits, and increasing integration with local commu- nities. See https://www.faa.gov/airports/environmental/sustainability/.

Glossary 143 Uncertainty: Refers to risks that are easily quantifiable. (“Risk” and “uncertainty” are used inter- changeably in this handbook.) Value-at-Risk (VaR): A technique used to measure and quantify the level of financial or eco- nomic risk over a specific time frame, usually using Monte Carlo simulation techniques. Vulnerability: The probability or likelihood that an asset will be exposed to a risk. Vulnerability Assessment Scoring Tool (VAST): An indicator-based vulnerability assessment of transportation assets. It was developed by the U.S. DOT and takes into account exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. See https://toolkit.climate.gov/?tool/ vulnerability-assessment-scoring-tool-vast.