scholarly journals Effects of sea level rise on hydrology: case study in a typical mid-Atlantic coastal watershed

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 730-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xixi Wang ◽  
Rui Li ◽  
Homa Jalaeian Taghadomi ◽  
Shohreh Pedram ◽  
Xiao Zhao

Abstract Sea level rise (SLR) can negatively affect the hydrology of coastal watersheds. However, the relevant information is incomplete and insufficient in existing literature. The objective of this study is to present a modeling approach to predict long-term effects of SLR on changes of flood peak, flood stage, and groundwater table with an assumption that the historical climate would reoccur in the future. The study was conducted for a typical coastal watershed in southeast USA. The results indicate that sea level had been rising at a rate of 4.21 mm yr−1 from 1948 to 1982 but at a faster rate of 5.16 mm yr−1 from 1983 to 2013. At such SLR rates and by 2113, the groundwater table beneath the eastern part of the watershed would be raised by 0.10 to 0.29 m, while the annual mean peak discharge and flood stage at the watershed outlet would be increased by 13.84 m3 s−1 (from 3.63 to 17.47 m3 s−1) and 0.92 m (from zero to 0.92 m), respectively. The other parts of the watershed would be relatively less affected by SLR. For coastal watersheds, SLR will probably raise the groundwater table, and increase the magnitude and occurrence of peak discharge and flood stage.

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 100716
Author(s):  
Heejun Yang ◽  
Makoto Kagabu ◽  
Azusa Okumura ◽  
Jun Shimada ◽  
Tomo Shibata ◽  
...  

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1324
Author(s):  
David Revell ◽  
Phil King ◽  
Jeff Giliam ◽  
Juliano Calil ◽  
Sarah Jenkins ◽  
...  

Sea level rise increases community risks from erosion, wave flooding, and tides. Current management typically protects existing development and infrastructure with coastal armoring. These practices ignore long-term impacts to public trust coastal recreation and natural ecosystems. This adaptation framework models physical responses to the public beach and private upland for each adaptation strategy over time, linking physical changes in widths to damages, economic costs, and benefits from beach recreation and nature using low-lying Imperial Beach, California, as a case study. Available coastal hazard models identified community vulnerabilities, and local risk communication engagement prioritized five adaptation approaches—armoring, nourishment, living shorelines, groins, and managed retreat. This framework innovates using replacement cost as a proxy for ecosystem services normally not valued and examines a managed retreat policy approach using a public buyout and rent-back option. Specific methods and economic values used in the analysis need more research and innovation, but the framework provides a scalable methodology to guide coastal adaptation planning everywhere. Case study results suggest that coastal armoring provides the least public benefits over time. Living shoreline approaches show greater public benefits, while managed retreat, implemented sooner, provides the best long-term adaptation strategy to protect community identity and public trust resources.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Maussion ◽  
Quentin Lejeune ◽  
Ben Marzeion ◽  
Matthias Mengel ◽  
David Rounce ◽  
...  

<p>Mountain glaciers have a delayed response to climate change and are expected to continue to melt long after greenhouse gas emissions have stopped, with consequences both for sea-level rise and water resources. In this contribution, we use the Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM) to compute global glacier volume and runoff changes until the year 2300 under a suite of stylized greenhouse gas emission characterized by (i) the year at which anthropogenic emissions culminate, (ii) their reduction rates after peak emissions and (iii) whether they lead to a long-term global temperature stabilization or decline. We show that even under scenarios that achieve the Paris Agreement goal of holding global-mean temperature below 2 °C, glacier contribution to sea-level rise will continue well beyond 2100. Because of this delayed response, the year of peak emissions (i.e. the timing of mitigation action) has a stronger influence on mit-term global glacier change than other emission scenario characteristics, while long-term change is dependent on all factors. We also discuss the impact of early climate mitigation on regional glacier change and the consequences for glacier runoff, both short-term (where some basins are expected to experience an increase of glacier runoff) and long-term (where all regions are expecting a net-zero or even negative glacier contribution to total runoff), underlining the importance of mountain glaciers for regional water availability at all timescales.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Lawrence ◽  
Jonathan Boston ◽  
R Bell ◽  
S Olufson ◽  
R Kool ◽  
...  

Purpose of Review: Managed retreat will be inevitable where other adaptation options, such as protective structures or building restrictions, provide only temporary respite or are otherwise uneconomic, technically impractical or both. Here, we focus on the implementation of pre-emptive managed retreat, providing examples of how it can be sequenced, socialised and given the governance enablers necessary for implementation. Recent Findings: Ongoing sea-level rise during the twenty-first century and beyond poses huge adaptation challenges, especially for low-lying coastal and floodplain settlements. Settlements are already functionally disrupted from repetitive non-extreme flooding and research shows that sea-level rise will impact far more people, far sooner than previously thought, as more powerful storms, heavy rainfall and rising groundwater coincide with higher tides. To date, most examples of managed retreat have been post-disaster responses following damage and disruption. Pre-emptive managed retreat, by contrast, has yet to become a well-accepted and widely practised adaptation response. Nevertheless, there are increasing examples of research and practice on how pre-emptive managed retreat can be designed, sequenced and implemented alongside other forms of adaptation within anticipatory forms of governance. Summary: The current state of knowledge about managed retreat is reviewed and critical insights and lessons for governance and policy-making are given. Several novel examples from New Zealand are presented to address some of the implementation gaps. Goals and principles are enunciated to inform long-term adaptation strategies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Frieler ◽  
M. Mengel ◽  
A. Levermann

Abstract. Even if greenhouse gas emissions were stopped today, sea level would continue to rise for centuries, with the long-term sea-level commitment of a 2 °C warmer world significantly exceeding 2 m. In view of the potential implications for coastal populations and ecosystems worldwide, we investigate, from an ice-dynamic perspective, the possibility of delaying sea-level rise by pumping ocean water onto the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet. We find that due to wave propagation ice is discharged much faster back into the ocean than would be expected from a pure advection with surface velocities. The delay time depends strongly on the distance from the coastline at which the additional mass is placed and less strongly on the rate of sea-level rise that is mitigated. A millennium-scale storage of at least 80 % of the additional ice requires placing it at a distance of at least 700 km from the coastline. The pumping energy required to elevate the potential energy of ocean water to mitigate the currently observed 3 mm yr−1 will exceed 7 % of the current global primary energy supply. At the same time, the approach offers a comprehensive protection for entire coastlines particularly including regions that cannot be protected by dikes.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 867-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiel Schaeffer ◽  
William Hare ◽  
Stefan Rahmstorf ◽  
Martin Vermeer
Keyword(s):  

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 4013-4030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaap H. Nienhuis ◽  
Jorge Lorenzo-Trueba

Abstract. Barrier islands are low-lying coastal landforms vulnerable to inundation and erosion by sea level rise. Despite their socioeconomic and ecological importance, their future morphodynamic response to sea level rise or other hazards is poorly understood. To tackle this knowledge gap, we outline and describe the BarrieR Inlet Environment (BRIE) model that can simulate long-term barrier morphodynamics. In addition to existing overwash and shoreface formulations, BRIE accounts for alongshore sediment transport, inlet dynamics, and flood–tidal delta deposition along barrier islands. Inlets within BRIE can open, close, migrate, merge with other inlets, and build flood–tidal delta deposits. Long-term simulations reveal complex emergent behavior of tidal inlets resulting from interactions with sea level rise and overwash. BRIE also includes a stratigraphic module, which demonstrates that barrier dynamics under constant sea level rise rates can result in stratigraphic profiles composed of inlet fill, flood–tidal delta, and overwash deposits. In general, the BRIE model represents a process-based exploratory view of barrier island morphodynamics that can be used to investigate long-term risks of flooding and erosion in barrier environments. For example, BRIE can simulate barrier island drowning in cases in which the imposed sea level rise rate is faster than the morphodynamic response of the barrier island.


1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.Roland Gehrels

A relative sea-level history is reconstructed for Machiasport, Maine, spanning the past 6000 calendar year and combining two different methods. The first method establishes the long-term (103 yr) trend of sea-level rise by dating the base of the Holocene saltmarsh peat overlying a Pleistocene substrate. The second method uses detailed analyses of the foraminiferal stratigraphy of two saltmarsh peat cores to quantify fluctuations superimposed on the long-term trend. The indicative meaning of the peat (the height at which the peat was deposited relative to mean tide level) is calculated by a transfer function based on vertical distributions of modern foraminiferal assemblages. The chronology is determined from AMS 14C dates on saltmarsh plant fragments embedded in the peat. The combination of the two different approaches produces a high-resolution, replicable sea-level record, which takes into account the autocompaction of the peat sequence. Long-term mean rates of sea-level rise, corrected for changes in tidal range, are 0.75 mm/yr between 6000 and 1500 cal yr B.P. and 0.43 mm/yr during the past 1500 year. The foraminiferal stratigraphy reveals several low-amplitude fluctuations during a relatively stable period between 1100 and 400 cal yr B.P., and a sea-level rise of 0.5 m during the past 300 year.


Author(s):  
Christopher B. Monk ◽  
Sjoerd Van Ballegooy ◽  
Matthew Hughes ◽  
Marlene Villeneuve

The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) of 2010 – 2011 caused widespread liquefaction related land damage to the city of Christchurch. This paper addresses the impact the CES had on the eastern Christchurch suburb of North New Brighton with emphasis on the ground condition at the time of the initial 4 September 2010 earthquake, as well as subsidence caused by the CES, and the future potential for increased liquefaction vulnerability due to Sea Level Rise (SLR). Subsidence at North New Brighton accumulated throughout the CES due to a reduction in volume of the soil profile through liquefaction; and overall settlement due to regional tectonic subsidence. The total amount of subsidence caused by the CES at North New Brighton was as much as 1 m in some places and this has changed the relationship between the position of the ground surface and the top of the groundwater table. A reduction in thickness of the non-liquefying layer has been shown to increase the vulnerability of the soil profile to liquefaction related land damage during earthquake events. As a coastal suburb, North New Brighton is vulnerable to the impact of SLR and this paper considers the response of the groundwater table to rising sea level and the influence this will have on the thickness of the non-liquefying layer and liquefaction vulnerability.


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