Coastal Processes and Environments under Sea-Level Rise and Changing Climate: Science to Inform Management

摘要

Acceleration of sea-level rise (SLR) in response to global climate change is well underway. Current global SLR averages -3.0 mm/yr, although the actual rate varies globally. In comparison, sea-level curves indicate that SLR was only a fraction of a millimeter per year over the past few thousand years. The increased rate of global SLR is exacerbated on a regional scale by decadal-scale oscillations that are due to climatic and oceanographic controls, varying wave climate (wave height, period, and direction), increased subsidence due to subsurface fluid extraction, and anthropogenic alterations in sediment supply to coasts-in particular, the alteration of sediment delivery and distribution within deltas. Coastal response to these changes is occurring at alarming rates, resulting in billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure, massive taxpayer funding for recovery, degradation of ecosystems, and, in the worst case, loss of life, as experienced in major storms. Scientific understanding of the causes and magnitudes of coastal change is far from the level needed to confidently predict future change.