Coastal communities, along with federal, state, and local managers, need better scientific information and tools to plan for the particular threats they may face from saltwater flooding, shoreline erosion, and habitat loss. But resource managers remain uncertain whether outcomes of these efforts will be resilient to projected sea-level rise.īecause the impacts of climate change and sea-level rise around the Pacific and Arctic vary considerably, no single solution can mitigate the impacts. In highly developed coastal areas such as San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on restoration of nearshore ecosystems, which protect shorelines from erosion by waves and provide habitat for socially and economically important species. In California alone, roughly half a million people and $100 billion worth of coastal property are at risk during the next century. Alaskan government agencies and land-use planners are relocating some Native Alaskan villages and critical airstrips farther inland from eroding shores, such as Kivalina on the northwestern coast. The bottom photo was taken during an El Niño storm in February 1998.Īlong Arctic shores of Alaska, shoreline erosion and habitat loss are accelerating due to increasing permafrost thaw and sea ice forming much later in the year, leaving the coast more susceptible to waves and storm surge. The top photo was taken under relatively normal conditions in November 1997, prior to the big storms. Two photographs of Mitchell Cove beach on the west side of Santa Cruz during the 1997-1998 ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) winter.
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