Research Guides: Climate Change: Coastal Areas

Selected Resources

Long-term response of oceans to CO2 removal from the atmosphere Focusing on pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen, we find that even after several centuries of CDR deployment, past CO2 emissions would leave a substantial legacy in the marine environment.
Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows Rising seas could affect three times more people by 2050 than previously thought, according to new research, threatening to all but erase some of the world’s great coastal cities.

FLOODED FUTURE Global Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise Far Worse Than Previously New elevation data show that by mid-century frequent coastal flooding will rise higher than areas currently home to hundreds of millions of people.
(USAID) Ecosystem-based Adaptation and Coastal Populations (2018) Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a nature-based method for climate change adaptation that can increase the resilience of coastal populations by strengthening and maintaining natural systems and the goods and services they provide. EbA can also provide additional benefits for health, food security, biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic growth.

Government Resources

Climate Change in Coastal Communities: What are the potential impacts of climate change to estuaries and coastal areas? Examples of specific impacts that may occur in estuaries and other coastal areas include: salt-water intrusion into aquifers as the sea rises, flooding of coastal wetlands/marshes, changes to water availability/quality, changes in habitat and species distributions, lower oxygen levels in wetlands, ocean acidification (due to higher concentrations of atmospheric CO2), and a range of impacts from more severe coastal storms.
Climate Impacts on Coastal Areas The impacts of climate change are likely to worsen problems coastal areas already face. Confronting existing challenges that affect man-made infrastructure and coastal ecosystems, e.g., shoreline erosion, coastal flooding, and water pollution, is already a concern in many areas. Addressing the additional stress of climate change may require new approaches to managing land, water, waste, and ecosystems.
Climate Ready Estuaries The Climate Ready Estuaries program works with the National Estuary Programs and the coastal management community to: Assess climate change vulnerabilities, Develop and implement adaptation strategies, and Engage and educate stakeholders.

NASA's Melting Arctic

Surging Seas Coastal Zone Tools

Search or navigate interactive tools to see maps of areas with different amounts of sea level rise and flooding, down to neighborhood scale, matched with area timelines of risk. The tools also provides statistics of population, homes and land affected by city, county and state, plus links to factsheets, data downloads, action plans, embeddable widgets, and more.

Surging Seas Risk Finder (Tool) Use this tool to explore sea level and coastal flood risks. Enter a coastal place name and it retrieves population below sea level, sea level scenario risk, related places, prevention, and more.
Risk Zone Maps Climate Central’s Surging Seas: Risk Zone map shows areas vulnerable to near-term flooding from different combinations of sea level rise, storm surge, tides, and tsunamis, or to permanent submersion by long-term sea level rise.
Mapping Choices: which sea level will we lock in? There are two timeframes to these maps. The first is: When do we pass the point of no return, and lock in the future sea levels shown? Maps that compare carbon scenarios show long-term sea level projections based on different pollution pathways through 2100 (default), 2050, or 2015 (historic pollution), depending on the settings chosen. Maps that compare temperature increases show sea level projections that lock in if and when enough carbon emissions add up to lock in each temperature increase.
Seeing Choices Seeing Choices presents an animated, global interactive map that reveals the effect of rising global temperatures on coastal cities. Search for any coastal city to see local locked-in sea level rise as climate heats up.
Ocean at the Door Climate Central’s and Zillow’s Surging Seas: Ocean at the Door map shows areas, homes, and home value at risk of annual flooding or worse as sea levels rise, projected for the year 2050, assuming unchecked pollution and early instability of Antarctica. See the full report here.
Extreme Scenario Year 2100 This map shows projected U.S. sea levels for the year 2100 under the “extreme” sea level rise scenario published in NOAA Technical Report NOS CO-OPS 083 (January 2017), which corresponds to rapid ice loss in West Antarctica this century. Search for any coastal location in the U.S. to see the extreme scenario projections.
Stakes Rising: Year 2100 This map shows local projected sea levels for the year 2100 under different carbon pollution scenarios, and is based on peer-reviewed research that incorporates potential impacts of Antarctic ice dynamics on sea levels.
Stakes Rising: Year 2100 3D This tool allows you to overlay a Surging Seas sea level rise KML layer in Google Earth for web to visualize the projected U.S. sea levels for the year 2100 under the “extreme” sea level rise scenario published in NOAA Technical Report NOS CO-OPS 083 (January 2017).
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Be sure to follow the directions precisely. Works in conjunction with Google Earth.
Surging Seas 2ºC Warming and Sea Level Rise This map shows U.S. land below 20 feet (6 meters) above the high tide line –– this is the minimum amount of sea level rise that is projected from 2 degrees Celsius (3.6°F) of global warming (Dutton et al. 2015).
Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Web Tools Comparison Matrix This map shows U.S. land below 20 feet (6 meters) above the high tide line –– this is the minimum amount of sea level rise that is projected from 2 degrees Celsius (3.6°F) of global warming (Dutton et al. 2015).
All Surging Seas Maps/Tools The entire Surging Seas Collection

Other Coastal Area Data Tools

Land Use and Land Cover in the Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America, encompassing a 168,000 sq. kilometer watershed that covers parts of six states and the District of Columbia. The mixing of salt and freshwater in the Bay creates a diverse and complex ecosystem, which historically has supported thousands of migratory and resident species, including oysters, blue crabs, shad, herring, and waterfowl.
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The numbers of fish and wildlife that the Bay once supported has diminished drastically due in part to over-harvesting and disease, but pollution from urban runoff, agriculture, and inadequate sewage treatment has caused a serious decline in water quality.