Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 14, 2025
06:48
Assessing Intertidal Populations of the Invasive European Green Crab
Published on: September 16, 2020
6.4K
Rising Sea Levels: Helping Decision-Makers Confront the Inevitable
John A Hall1, Christopher P Weaver2, Jayantha Obeysekera3
1Department of Defense, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
Coastal Management : an International Journal of Marine Environment, Resources, Law, and Society
|July 16, 2020
Summary
Sea-level rise (SLR) is happening now, posing immediate risks to coastal areas. This review examines U.S. federal efforts to improve coastal risk management by evolving SLR science and scenario planning for better preparedness.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Climate Change Science
- Coastal Geomorphology
Background:
- Sea-level rise (SLR) is an ongoing global phenomenon impacting coastal regions immediately.
- SLR presents complex challenges for coastal risk management due to its non-uniformity, uncertainty, and influence on extreme water levels.
- Effective coastal planning and emergency preparedness require robust, evolving scientific understanding of SLR.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review United States federal initiatives in synthesizing sea-level rise science for coastal risk management.
- To outline the evolution of SLR scenarios from global projections to risk-based, regional, and probabilistic approaches.
- To provide perspectives on applying SLR scenarios for enhanced preparedness and resilience measures.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of U.S. federal efforts and scientific publications on sea-level rise.
- Analysis of the evolution of global and regional sea-level rise scenarios.
- Examination of the integration of probabilistic approaches and extreme water level data.
Main Results:
- Federal efforts have progressed from basic SLR projections to sophisticated, risk-based scenarios.
- The development includes regionalization of scenarios and incorporation of probabilistic methods.
- Contextualization of scenarios by combining local sea-level changes with extreme water level projections has been advanced.
Conclusions:
- Continued evolution of SLR science and scenario application is critical for effective coastal risk management.
- Improved understanding and application of SLR scenarios enhance preparedness and resilience against coastal flooding.
- Standardized guidance for SLR scenario interpretation and use is essential for decision-making.
Related Concept Videos
01:50Global Climate Change
28.3K
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
28.3K
01:17Design Example: Analyzing Capacity Contours for Flood Risk Assessment
223
Flood risk assessment involves careful planning and analysis to ensure the safety of communities near water retention structures. Capacity contours are a vital tool in this process, as they illustrate the potential spread of water at specific levels in a given area. In the context of building a bund across a small valley, these contours play a critical role in evaluating the safety of nearby residential areas.In this example, the bund is intended to store stormwater in the valley. The engineers...
223
02:41Responses to Drought and Flooding
11.8K
Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
11.8K
01:29Applications of GIS: Disaster Management and Emergency Response
343
Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is essential for risk identification, action prioritization, and resource optimization in critical situations like flooding and earthquakes. By integrating spatial and demographic data, GIS provides a comprehensive framework for emergency response.GIS integrates data layers, like rainfall intensity, topography, elevation profiles, and river levels, to model high-risk flood zones. These layers assess areas susceptible to flooding based on their...
343
01:22Effect of Sea Water on Concrete
830
Concrete exposed to seawater can undergo degradation like the dissolution of ettringite and gypsum, increasing the material's porosity and decreasing its strength. In contrast, the crystallization of salts within the concrete's pores can cause expansion, particularly above the waterline where evaporation occurs. Nonetheless, this expansion only happens when seawater, enabled by the concrete's permeability, manages to infiltrate the structure.
Concrete in areas between tide marks,...
Concrete in areas between tide marks,...
830
01:16What is Climate?
20.3K
Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
20.3K