scholarly journals A geological perspective on sea-level rise and its impacts along the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth G. Miller ◽  
Robert E. Kopp ◽  
Benjamin P. Horton ◽  
James V. Browning ◽  
Andrew C. Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Response of Storm-Related Extreme Sea Level along the U.S. Atlantic Coast to Combined Weather and Climate Forcing

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 3745-3769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjun Yin ◽  
Stephen M. Griffies ◽  
Michael Winton ◽  
Ming Zhao ◽  
Laure Zanna
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Storm Surge ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coastal Flooding ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
The U.S

AbstractStorm surge and coastal flooding caused by tropical cyclones (hurricanes) and extratropical cyclones (nor’easters) pose a threat to communities along the Atlantic coast of the United States. Climate change and sea level rise are altering the statistics of these extreme events in a rather complex fashion. Here we use a fully coupled global weather/climate modeling system (GFDL CM4) to study characteristics of extreme daily sea level (ESL) along the U.S. Atlantic coast and their response to global warming. We find that under natural weather processes, the Gulf of Mexico coast is most vulnerable to storm surge and related ESL. New Orleans is a striking hotspot with the highest surge efficiency in response to storm winds. Under a 1% per year atmospheric CO2 increase on centennial time scales, the anthropogenic signal in ESL is robust along the U.S. East Coast. It can emerge from the background variability as soon as in 20 years, or even before global sea level rise is taken into account. The regional dynamic sea level rise induced by the weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation facilitates this early emergence, especially during wintertime coastal flooding associated with nor’easters. Along the Gulf Coast, ESL is sensitive to the modification of hurricane characteristics under the CO2 forcing.

scholarly journals Gulf Stream's induced sea level rise and variability along the U.S. mid‐Atlantic coast

2013 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 685-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tal Ezer ◽  
Larry P. Atkinson ◽  
William B. Corlett ◽  
Jose L. Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Potential for shoreline changes due to sea-level rise along the U.S. mid-Atlantic region

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin T. Gutierrez ◽  
S. Jeffress Williams ◽  
E. Robert Thieler
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Atlantic Region ◽  
Shoreline Changes ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Application of STORMTOOLS Coastal Environmental Risk Index (CERI) to Inform State and Local Planning and Decision Making along the Southern RI Shoreline

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Malcolm L. Spaulding ◽  
Annette Grilli ◽  
Chris Damon ◽  
Teresa Crean ◽  
Grover Fugate
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Environmental Risk ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Wave Model ◽  
Flood Plain ◽  
State And Local

STORMTOOLS coastal environmental risk index (CERI) was applied to communities located along the southern coast of Rhode Island (RI) to determine the risk to structures located in the flood plain. CERI uses estimates of the base flood elevation (BFE), explicitly including the effects of sea level rise (SLR); details on the structure types, from the E911 emergency data base/parcel data, and associated first floor elevation (FFE); and damage curves from the US Army Corp of Engineers North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS) to determine the damages to structures for the study area. Surge levels and associated offshore waves used to determine BFEs were obtained from the NACCS hydrodynamic and wave model predictions. The impacts of sea level rise and coastal erosion on flooding were modeled using XBeach and STWAVE and validated by observations at selected locations along the coastline. CERI estimated the structural damage to each structure in the coastal flood plain for 100 yr flooding with SLR ranging from 0 to 10 ft. The number of structures at risk was estimated to increase approximate linearly from 3700 for no SLR to about 8000 for 10 ft SLR, with about equal percentages for each of the four coastal communities (Narragansett, South Kingstown, Charlestown, and Westerly, Rhode Island (RI)). The majority of the structures in the flood plain are single/story residences without (41%) and with (46%) basements (total 87%; structures with basements are the most vulnerable). Less vulnerable are structures elevated on piles with 8.8% of the total. The remaining are commercial structures principally located either in the Port of Galilee and or Watch Hill. The analysis showed that about 20% of the structures in the 100 yr flood plain are estimated to be damaged at 50% or greater. This increases to 55% of structures as SLR rises to 5 ft. At higher SLR values the percent damaged at 50% or greater slowly declines to 45% at 10 ft SLR. This behavior is a result of the number of homes below MSL increasing dramatically as SLR values moves higher than 5 ft and thus being removed from the structures damaged pool. Generalized CERI risk maps have developed to allow the managers to determine the broad risk of siting structures at any location in their communities. CERI has recently become available as a mobile phone App, facilitating the ability of state and local decision makers and the public to determine the risk of locating a selected building type at any location in their communities.

The effects of tidal changes on the frequency of nuisance flooding events in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sida Li ◽  
Thomas Wahl ◽  
David Jay ◽  
Stefan Talke ◽  
Lintao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
High Tide ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tide Gauges ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Relative Sea Level Rise ◽  
Tidal Changes ◽  
Cape Fear ◽  
The U.S

<p>Nuisance flooding (NF) or high tide flooding describes minor nondestructive flooding which can nonetheless cause substantial negative socio-economic impacts to coastal communities. The frequency of NF events has increased and accelerated over the past decades along the U.S. coast, leading to changes ranging from 300% to 900%. This is mainly a result of sea level rise reducing the gap between high tidal datum and flood thresholds. While long-term relative sea level rise is the main driver for the increased number of NF events, other factors such as variability in the Gulf stream, the storm climate, and infragravity waves can also contribute. Another important driver that is often overlooked is related to changes in coastal and estuary tides, through secular trends in the amplitudes of major tidal constituents. In this presentation we assess the role of tidal changes in modulating the frequency of NF events along the U.S. coastline. We analyze hourly records from 49 U.S. tide gauges for which the National Weather Service has defined NF thresholds. We find that (1) overall across all tide gauges the number of NF days has increased since 1950 due to changes in coastal tides, adding up to 100 NF days in recent years (on top of the increase due to relative sea level rise), (2) more tide gauges experience an increase in NF events than a decrease due to changes in tides, (3) tide gauges in major estuaries which have undergone major anthropogenic alterations experience the strongest changes; in Wilmington (Cape Fear estuary), for example, 10-40% of NF events in recent years can be attributed to tidal changes. </p>

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