A coastal hazards data base for the US East Coast

This document describes the contents of a digital data base that may be used by raster or vector geographic information systems (GIS) and non-GIS data bases to assess the risk of coastlines to erosion or sea level rise. The data base integrates point, line, and polygon data for the US East Coast into 0.250 latitude [times] 0.250 longitude grid cells. Each coastal grid cell contains data on geology, geomorpholog,elevation, wave heights, tidal ranges, shoreline displacement (erosion), and sea-level trends. These data are available as a Numeric Data Package (NDP), from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, consisting of this document and a set of computerized data files. The documentation contains information on the methods used in calculating each variable, detailed descriptions of file contents and formats, and a discussion of the sources, restrictions, and limitations of the data. The data files are available on magnetic tape, on floppy diskettes, or through INTERNET

Adapting to sea-level rise in the US Southeast: The influence of built infrastructure and biophysical factors on the inundation of coastal areas

The earth' s global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.5[degrees]C over the past 100 years. This warming trend has occurred concurrently with increases in the concentration and number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These gases may cause this trend to accelerate in the future and result in a net increase in the earth's global mean surface air temperature of 1.5 to 4.5[degrees]C by the year 2100. An increase of this magnitude could cause sea surface temperatures to increase would cause sea levels to rise -from thermal expansion of the sea, and the addition of melt waters from alpine glaciers and continental ice sheets. To allow for the cost-effective analysis of the impacts that sea-level rise may have on the US Southeast, a method is needed that will allow sites that are potentially at risk to be identified for study. Previously, no objective method was available to identify such sites. This project addresses this problem by using a geographic data base with information on both physical and climatological factors to identify coastal areas of the US Southeast that are at risk to inundation or accelerated erosion due to sea-level rise. The following six areas were selected for further study from the many identified as being at high risk: Galveston, Texas; Caminada Pass, Louisiana; Bradenton Beach, Florida; Daytona Beach, Florida; McClellanville, South Carolina; and Nags Head, North Carolina. For each study area the amount of land, by land use type, in danger from inundation from three sea-level-rise scenarios was calculated. The calculated values were based on elevation alone

METODOLOGIA PARA MAPEAMENTO DE VULNERABILIDADE COSTEIRA À ELEVAÇÃO DO NÍVEL MÉDIO DO MAR (NMM) EM ESCALA LOCAL

Este trabalho apresenta metodologia para mapeamento da vulnerabilidade costeira à elevação do Nível Médio do Mar (NMM) em escala local, com estudo de caso na orla marítima da Ilha de Madre de Deus/BA. Essa orla marítima é densamente ocupada por bairros residenciais e instalações da indústria petrolífera. Para isso, foi criado um índice de vulnerabilidade costeira com a combinação de quatro variáveis geológicas (geomorfologia, declividade, elevação e taxa de erosão/acreção na face de praia), determinadas em levantamentos sazonais (verão e inverno) de perfis de praia georreferenciados e niveladas em relação ao NMM, e três variáveis de processos físicos costeiros (taxa de elevação do nível médio do mar, altura significativa de onda e amplitude de maré média). O mapa representou a variação da vulnerabilidade relativa ao longo de distintos setores da linha de costa possibilitando identificar a combinação mais crítica das variáveis, ou seja, áreas prioritárias às intervenções antrópicas para redução das vulnerabilidades por meio de estratégias de prevenção, mitigação e/ou adaptação socioeconômicas e ambientais aos impactos da elevação do NMM. Os resultados mostraram alto potencial na aplicação da metodologia em setores de beira-mar, cuja pequena extensão requer o mapeamento em escala de detalhe