The foundations of the sea-level rise challenge: Coasts are a special case for adaptation

Journal article

Lawrence, J and R Bell, The foundations of the sea-level rise challenge: Coasts are a special case for adaptation in Coastal Adaptation – Adapting to coastal change and hazard risk in Aotearoa New Zealand, SPECIAL PUBLICATION #5: COASTAL ADAPTATION, 21 November 2022

Abstract

Coasts pose a special case for adaptation due to the progressive and changing risks from sea-level rise (SLR). The IPCC Working Group II Sixth Assessment (IPCC 2022) concluded that sea-level rise poses a distinctive and severe adaptation challenge, as it implies dealing with both slow onset changes and increased frequency and magnitude of extreme sea level events, which will escalate in the coming decades. They will occure earlier where rates of relative SLR are locally higher (due to land subsidence) and to higher levels if low-likelihood, high-impact outcomes associated with collaspsing ice sheets, occur.

Our Changing Coast researchers

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