UC Berkeley researchers create digital twin of Pajaro Valley to test future flood risks

THE FARMING COMMUNITIES along the Lower Pajaro River that divides Monterey and Santa Cruz counties have suffered five multi-million dollar floods since a system of levees was built in 1949. Now, researchers are building a dynamic virtual version of the region to simulate flooding scenarios over time, while taking account of a variety of factors such as climate risk.

Led by UC Berkeley researchers Anna Serra-Llobet and Adda Athanasopoulos-Zekkos — working with members of Austria’s Vienna Research Center for Visual Computing — the project is developing a digital twin, or a dynamic virtual simulation, of the Lower Pajaro River Valley, known locally as “the strawberry capital of the world.”