Sea-Level Change Considerations for Marine Civil Works-COPRI Committee Update on Best Practices

摘要

The Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute (COPRI) within the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is working to produce guidance materials allowing engineers, owners and stakeholders to address the inclusion of sea-level change considerations during the design of marine civil works. The Committee serves the needs of all stakeholders involved in a marine project, with a focus on designers and engineers in particular. The manual will provide designers and engineers with systematic methods for the consideration of risks associated with the uncertainty of sea-level change affecting a facility and offer mechanisms for how to incorporate sea-level change projections into their project designs. Current scientific studies use different methods and data for calculation and thus global mean sea level rise estimates for 2100 generally range from 0.6 - 2.0 meters. However, planning for marine civil works should consider the local sea level scenarios and potential variations associated with regular, periodic water level changes (such as tides) and addressing probabilities associated with potential storm/flood events. In response to the significant challenge of addressing these issues and making sound decisions jointly with stakeholders to understand and manage risk, this Committee is developing recommendations to assist in managing design factors, uncertainty, and to a certain extent, measure implementation. This paper provides an overview of these issues and the recommendations that the Committee is developing.