Contributions to Coastal Sea Level Extremes: Understanding the Past and Projecting the Future
Thomas Wahl (Co-PI), University of Central Florida
Project Period: 07/2020 – 06/2024
Total Project Funding: $1,581,512 |
Collaborators:
Christopher Piecuch (PI; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Sönke Dangendorf (Old Dominion University) John Reager (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Philip Thompson (University of Hawaii) Felix Landerer (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) |
Project Description.
Vulnerable coastal communities across the United States are experiencing the effects of sea level rise in the present day. The frequency and severity of coastal sea level extremes are increasing and resulting in tangible and disruptive consequences on a regular basis. Sea level rise will continue to increase the frequency and severity of these events, leading to larger impacts already in the coming decades; also at locations that have been less affected in the recent years. Sea level rise is therefore not a problem only for the distant future. Decision makers need cutting-edge science tailored to applications such as establishing planning horizons, assessing design lifetimes of key infrastructure, and developing coastal management strategies. We will improve the scientific basis and usefulness of information made available to decision makers related to ongoing changes in the frequency and severity of coastal sea level extremes during the next ~30 years. We will use observations to document past changes in the astronomical tides, storm surges, and mean sea level along the coastal US and US territories. We will use observations and models to identify what processes in the Earth system caused those changes, and quantify how those processes and changes interacted and influenced one another. We will use this new knowledge of past changes and their physical causes to make more robust projections of coastal extreme sea level statistics up to a few decades into the future. Our research will contribute to the NASA Sea Level Change Science Team’s larger goals of providing evidence of sea level change, quantifying contributions to sea level variability, and developing projections of sea level changes. |
Funding Agency: This project is funded by the NASA Sea Level Science Team.
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All Rights Reserved.
Website developed and maintained by Javed Ali.