Fourth National Climate Assessment - Coastal Effects Chapter
Abstract
The National Climate Assessment responds to a Congressionally-mandated effort to summarize every four years the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. This poster will focus on the findings from the Coastal Effects chapter, which builds on previous USGCRP assessment efforts while integrating the socioeconomic and environmental impacts and consequences of a changing climate. The chapter discusses the threat of rising sea levels exacerbating tidal and storm surge flooding; the state of coastal ecosystems; and social vulnerability by introducing the implications for social equity.
The chapter was written by an all-federal employee team with representation from key federal agencies with science, management, and policy expertise in climate-related coastal effects to focus the content of the chapter on Key Messages and themes that would both update the work conducted under NCA3 and introduce new themes. A central component of the assessment process was a chapter lead authors' meeting held in Washington, DC, in May 2017. The Key Messages were initially developed at this meeting. Key vulnerabilities were operationally defined as those challenges that can fundamentally undermine the functioning of human and natural coastal systems. They arise when these systems are highly exposed and sensitive to climate change and (given present or potential future adaptive capacities) insufficiently prepared, or able, to respond. The vulnerabilities that the team decided to focus on were informed by a review of the existing literature and by ongoing interactions of the author team with coastal managers, scientists, planners, and stakeholders. In addition, the author team conducted a thorough review of the technical inputs and associated literature. Chapter development was supported by numerous chapter author technical discussions via teleconference from April to September 2017, an in-person meeting organized by USGCRP in March 2018, and multiple rounds of public and governmental review. Once published, the author team will support the National Climate Assessment through outreach to team members' established networks and attendance at various stakeholder events through 2019.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMPA31D1157S
- Keywords:
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- 3305 Climate change and variability;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 9350 North America;
- GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONDE: 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1637 Regional climate change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE