IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE COASTAL ZONE

8th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2008, www.sgem.org, SGEM2008 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 16-20, 2008, Vol. 1, 599-608 pp

ABSTRACT

The Earth’s weather and climate are the result of the redistribution of heat. The major
source of heat to the surface of the Earth is the sun, principally through incoming visible
radiation most of which is absorbed by the Earth’s surface. The ocean redistributes this
radiation and the atmosphere with the excess radiated back into space as longer
wavelength, infrared radiation. Clouds and other gases, primarily water vapour and
carbon dioxide, absorb the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface and remit
their own heat at much lower temperatures. This traps the Earth’s radiation and makes
the Earth much warmer than it would be otherwise. Over time, energy absorbed near the
equator spreads to the colder regions of the globe, carried by winds in the atmosphere
and by the currents in the ocean. Compared to the atmosphere, the ocean is much denser
and has a much greater ability to store heat. The ocean also moves much more slowly
than the atmosphere. Thus, the ocean and the atmosphere interact on different time
scales. The ocean moderates seasonal and longer variations by storing and transporting,
via ocean currents, large amounts of heat around the globe, eventually resulting in
changing weather patterns. The ocean also plays an important role in climate change.
Long-term impacts of climate change in coastal areas, such as sea level rise or storm
surges, could result in the increased erosion of shores and associated habitat, increased
salinity of estuaries and freshwater aquifers, altered tidal ranges in rivers and bays,
changes in sediment and nutrient transport, and increased coastal flooding.
The purpose of this document is to address relevant topics of the sea level rise driven by
the changing climate and consider how climate changes could impact valuable coastal
areas.

Keywords: coastal impacts, climate change, sea level rise, coastal zone