With presumed sea level changes in the near future and changed patterns of atmospheric and hydrological events coastal areas appear to be a hot spot of vulnerability under climate change impact. This statement, however, involves a large amount of uncertainty calling for better understanding of the underlying physical processes and systems. Examples are the ongoing research projects under the EU-FP7 theme “Coasts at threat in Europe: tsunamis and climate-related risks”. ASTARTE attempts to reach a higher level of tsunami resilience. The goal of PEARL and RISK-KIT is to reduce and increase resilience to low-frequency, high-impact hydro-meteorological events in the coastal zone.
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 and nearshore currents. These statements, however, involve a large amount of uncertainty calling for better understanding of the underlying physical processes and systems. While global scale climate modelling is reaching a mature stage, the robust assessment of impacts at regional and local scales is still an emerging science. This understanding cannot be achieved through observations alone due to the rarity and the extreme character of the events or since it concerns future impacts. Numerical models play therefore a crucial role in characterizing coastal hazards and assigning risks to them. Examples are the ongoing research projects under the EU-FP7 theme “Coasts at threat in Europe: tsunamis and climate-related risks”. ASTARTE attempts to reach a higher level of tsunami resilience. The goal of PEARL and RISK-KIT is to reduce and increase resilience to low-frequency, high-impact hydro-meteorological events in the coastal zone.
This session will focus on assessments and case studies from a global and regional perspective of potential impacts of tsunamis, storm surge, sea level rise, waves, and currents on coasts. Also of interest are near-shore non-linear wave interaction processes, onshore flooding processes, and coastal coupled system modelling approaches.