Climate change is very likely to have large implications for coastal systems, due to the foreshadowed changes in mean sea level, storm surge, wave climate, winds, river flow and nearshore currents. Such changes can significantly affect the safety of coastal communities, developments and infrastructure leading to massive socio-economic impacts along the highly developed and populated coastal zones around the world. While global scale climate modelling is reaching a mature stage, the robust assessment of climate change impacts at regional and local scales is still an emerging science.
This session aims to bring together scientists working in the interdisciplinary field of coastal climate change impact assessment. Contributions are welcome on the impacts of climate change on sandy coasts and nearshore processes at regional and local scales. This includes the downscaling of global scale climate projections to inform regional scale impact assessments; modelling methods and case studies related to the assessment of potential physical impacts of sea level rise, storm surge, waves, and currents on coasts; and quantification of uncertainties associated with coastal climate change impact assessments.