EGU22-4228, updated on 09 Jan 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4228
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Sea level rise along the coastline of Colombia: A vulnerability assessment

Hannes Nevermann1, Jorge Nicolas Becerra Gomez1, Peter Fröhle2, and Nima Shokri1
Hannes Nevermann et al.
  • 1Institute of Geo-Hydroinformatics, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany (hannes.nevermann@tuhh.de)
  • 2Institute of River and Coastal Engineering, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

In recent decades, the sea level has risen notably compared to the most recent millennia. This poses serious threats to environment and human population over the next century especially in coastal zones. Every region has climatic and non-climatic drivers of sea level rise which needs to be considered when adaptation and mitigation policies are implemented. We analyzed the coastal consequences of sea level rise along the Caribbean and Pacific coastlines of Colombia. Sea level rise projections published in August 2021 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the 6th assessment report were used in this study (IPCC, 2021). Five Shared Socioeconomic Pathways for the 21st century (SSP1-1.9, SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5. SSP3-7.0, SSP5-8.5) were examined. Our results indicate a sea level rise of 1.04 m in the worst-case scenario (SSP5-8.5) which could cause land loss in an area of 2840.64 km². The area at risk will impact 12 departments or 86 municipalities with different social, environmental, economic, and cultural conditions that need to be considered when implementing mitigation policies. Our results illustrate how the projected sea level changes influence a variety of parameters such as area at the potential risk of inundation, land use of the affected area and general socio-economic impacts along the Caribbean and Pacific coastlines of Colombia.

 

Reference

IPCC (2021), Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press.

How to cite: Nevermann, H., Becerra Gomez, J. N., Fröhle, P., and Shokri, N.: Sea level rise along the coastline of Colombia: A vulnerability assessment, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4228, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4228, 2022.