Sea Level Change and Coastal Climate Services: The Way Forward

Abstract

For many climate change impacts such as drought and heat waves, global and national frameworks for climate services are providing ever more critical support to adaptation activities. Coastal zones are especially in need of climate services for adaptation, as they are increasingly threatened by sea level rise and its impacts, such as submergence, flooding, shoreline erosion, salinization and wetland change. In this paper, we examine how annual to multi-decadal sea level projections can be used within coastal climate services (CCS). To this end, we review the current state-of-the art of coastal climate services in the US, Australia and France, and identify lessons learned. More broadly, we also review current barriers in the development of CCS, and identify research and development efforts for overcoming barriers and facilitating their continued growth. The latter includes: (1) research in the field of sea level, coastal and adaptation science and (2) cross-cutting research in the area of user interactions, decision making, propagation of uncertainties and overall service architecture design. We suggest that standard approaches are required to translate relative sea level information into the forms required to inform the wide range of relevant decisions across coastal management, including coastal adaptation.

Framework for High‐End Estimates of Sea Level Rise for Stakeholder Applications

“…Today, there is a large set of potential adaptation users with diverse needs Le Cozannet, Nicholls, et al, 2017). Today, there is a large set of potential adaptation users with diverse needs Le Cozannet, Nicholls, et al, 2017).…”

“…While the literature is beginning to systematically report about the sea level information needs of some users and the challenges in satisfying them Le Cozannet, Nicholls, et al, 2017), this should not be considered a full catalog. Instead, many needs arise in the practitioner community, often on a local scale, and may not be reported or assessed in the scientific literature.…”

Coastal Sea Levels, Impacts and Adaptation

“…Le Cozannet et al [23] assess the translation of SLR information for efficient adaptation, while Stephens et al [24] offer a framework for uncertainty identification and management and show, by practical example, how flexibility in decision-making for adaptation to future hazards can be supported by maps of the degree of hazard exposure.…”

Coastal Sea Levels, Impacts, and Adaptation

“…Le Cozannet et al [23] assess the translation of SLR information for efficient adaptation, while Stephens et al [24] offer a framework for uncertainty identification and management and show, by practical example, how flexibility in decision-making for adaptation to future hazards can be supported by maps of the degree of hazard exposure.…”

“…Le Cozannet et al [23] review the practices of coastal climate services (CCS) in France, the US, and Australia, by identifying current barriers and offering recommendations to overcome these. They find that coastal climate services based on sea-level projections are emerging in a scattered manner, and, overall, too slowly to meet the diversity of challenges.…”