Catch the King Results
Catch the King 2025 Results
Thanks to the efforts of 167 volunteers, Catch the King 2025 was an incredible success! Community flood mappers from across coastal Virginia collected over 27,000 data points, delineating the impacts of king tide flooding and a nor’easter from October 6th-12th. Read more on our blog post!
Data Uses
Catch the King data is primarily shared with Dr. Derek Loftis, a scientist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), to validate and ground-truth VIMS flood prediction models. Read more about his work here!
Other projects and partners have used Catch the King data in various ways, including:
Old Dominion University’s Measure the Muck project has coordinated with CTK data collection since its inception. MTM project leads use CTK data to prioritize water quality monitoring sites to better understand how flooding causes increased nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
William & Mary Geographic Information System (GIS) students completed a priority analysis to identify neighborhoods in Norfolk that have high flood risk, high social vulnerability, and a lack of CTK data. These results help Wetlands Watch prioritize flood data collection in areas that need it most!
Christopher Newport University students used CTK data to support a research poster in 2024 for “Fear to Hope” ecosystem research at Ragged Island.
Local Girl Scout Troops have produced videos to educate others on flooding and share their Catch the King experiences as part of badge completions and leadership projects.
If you’re interested in doing a project using Catch the King data, please reach out to the Catch the King Coordinator.
Use it for advocacy & share with your neighbors. Create a neighborhood flood plan!
Share it with your local government - present your flood findings and experience at a local town hall meeting.
Use it for education - bring your experience to local school groups and youth to teach about sea level rise and flooding impacts.
You can do more with your Catch the King data and first-hand experience too!
William and Mary student priority analysis using CTK data, flood risk, and social vulnerability factors (slide screenshot).
Christopher Newport University student poster on king tides at Ragged Island, VA.
Local Girl Scouts video on king tides & environmental stewardship
Catch the King Over The Years
CTK Data Collection Map 2017-2025
This composite map from VIMS showcases all CTK data since 2017.
Click the image or here to view the interactive map in full-screen!
Data Recaps
2025 Data Recap:
2024 Data Recap:
Additional data collection events also occurred throughout the 2023 summer and fall (including September's "wet run" tides and rainfall event and Tropical Storm Ophelia) in more new places across VA's Coastal Plain that we've never mapped before.
2020 Data Recap:
2017 Data Recap:
Earned Guinness World Record for Most Contributions to an Environmental Survey
Catch the King data is available to view via the Sea Level Rise phone app and the SeaRisingSolutions web portal for Mappers who have participated in the mapping event. The general public does not have access to download CTK data sheets.
If you are interested in using CTK data or having a spreadsheet copy of the data, please reach out to the Catch the King Coordinator.
Get Data
Stay Informed about the Guinness World Record-Holding Event!
