EXTREME CLIMATE ADAPTATION STRATEGY: SMART WATER GRID IN THE YANGTZE RIVER DELTA

This book presents a systematic framework for risk assessment and predictions of extreme climate impacts using big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and intelligent monitoring technologies. Central to this effort is the concept of a smart water grid, a "digital water network", capable of real-time monitoring, rapid transmission, accurate forecasting, optimized decision-making, precise allocation, and efficient management especially during floods and droughts.

Building on case studies and original research from the Yangtze Delta — a region increasingly vulnerable to heavy rainfall, prolonged dry spells, sea level rise, and clustered extreme climate events that intensify saltwater intrusion, water shortages, ecological degradation, and disruptions to inland navigation — the book demonstrates how the construction of a high-quality, intelligent water grid advances climate adaptation, supports sustainable water governance, and contributes to national strategies of regional integration. Its interdisciplinary perspective spans hydrology, remote sensing, system dynamics, and machine learning, offering both theoretical foundations and applied methodologies.

This text serves as a reference for researchers, engineers, and policymakers concerned with water resources engineering, environmental management, and disaster risk reduction in deltaic regions confronting climate change.

Cheng Heqin, PhD, is a researcher professor and doctoral supervisor at the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University. She has long been conducting comprehensive analyses that integrate field measurements from space-based, shore-based, manned vessel-based, and unmanned boat-based multimodal sensors with historical data, numerical models, analytical models, and deep learning. Her research focuses on the impacts of the fundamental physical processes of continuous hydrodynamic systems stretching from large river basins to estuaries and oceans, under the combined effects of climate warming, sea-level rise, and intense human activities, on major infrastructure such as flood control and transportation along rivers and coasts, as well as on freshwater and fishery resources. His primary research areas include dynamic sedimentary geomorphology, underwater engineering geomorphology, and integrated coastal zone management.

Chen Xi, PhD, is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Software Engineering, East China Normal University. He received his PhD from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China and completed his postdoctoral research at Purdue University, USA. He was formerly a lecturer at Harbin Institute of Technology. China. His primary research focuses on artificial intelligence and data analysis applications. He has contributed (as a key participant) to China's national projects under the 973 and 863 Programs, and has led projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published over forty papers (in English) in prominent international journals and conferences, holds nearly twenty granted invention patents, and has authored a monograph supported by China's National Publication Fund.

Tan Kai, PhD, is an associate research professor at the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, China. He received his BE degree in Surveying Engineering from Wuhan University, China, and PhD degree in Surveying and Mapping from Tongji University, China. He was previously a research assistant at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. His major research interests include multi-source remote sensing technologies and their applications in the coastal zones. Kai Tan has published over 50 academic papers on topics such as delta topography, coastal vegetation, and estuary engineering. He has conducted over 20 international and national projects as principal investigator (PI) and co-PI. He was selected for the "Young Science and Technology Talents Sailing Plan" of the Shanghai Talent Project and won the "Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award", and the "Guangdong Engineering Survey and Design Industry Association Science and Technology Award". As a member of the Education Working Committee of the Chinese Society of Surveying and Mapping, and LiDAR Professional Committee of the China National Committee of the International Digital Earth Society, he is dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary research and collaboration.