Not news you wanted on the first day of the hurricane season, but USGS research finds that most of the Gulf of Mexico coast could be severely eroded from a decidedly mediocre storm. How at risk is your favorite beach? Visit the project’s interactive map here to find out. Read the USGS press release here.
Tag Archives | adaptation & mitigation
New Inundation Analysis Tool Released
Posted on May 30, 2012
There’s a lot of evidence that the future in coastal areas will look a lot like the past, only with more bad times. That once a century event might be more like once a decade by 2100. And brace for that “once a decade storm” — it may soon hit every few years. If this […]
Historical and Legal Context for Rhode Island’s Erosion Woes
Posted on May 15, 2012
Insightful thoughts submitted by attorney and Natural Hazard Mitigation Association President Ed Thomas on the NYT Rhode Island article I mentioned yesterday: This extremely important article displays a thoughtful approach to 1) the questions of what we should do about sea level rise and beach erosion; 2) the very real problems we face as a […]
Norfolk, Virginia Continues to Battle Sea Level Rise [VIDEO]
Posted on April 30, 2012
A sobering look at how Norfolk, Virginia has moved far beyond debating climate change and sea level rise. When the mayor dares to mention “retreat zones” as an option, you know things are serious. Need a quick video on sea level rise to show your elected officials? Try this. Watch “Rising tide in Norfolk, Va.” […]
NOAA Releases New Report on How Local Communities Can Adapt to Climate Change
Posted on April 20, 2012
Several NOAA offices (CSC, NGS, COOPS, and OCS) have collaboratively released a new handbook to help communities adopt to sea level rise. From the introduction: Just as flooding threats need to be factored into coastal community planning initiatives, so too should sea level change. Unfortunately, the “one size fits all” approach does not work. The […]
Another Climate Change Adaptation Handbook
Posted on April 11, 2012
Haven’t had a chance to review this at length, but here’s what the Center for Climate Strategies has to say about their new handbook: The Center for Climate Strategies Adaptation Guidebook includes a catalogue of adaptation actions, detailed review of state and local adaptation plans and comprehensive methodology and supporting templates for sub national adaptation […]
New(ish) Climate Change Resource Library
Posted on April 3, 2012
The United States Global Change Research Program recently launched a revamped Resource Library for easier, more intuitive access to Federal global change resources. For those unfamiliar with the organization, USGCR’s Congressionally-mandated purpose is to “disseminate to foreign governments, businesses, and institutions, as well as citizens of foreign countries, scientific research information available in […]
NOAA Shares Tools for Understanding and Addressing Coastal Inundation
Posted on March 27, 2012
The NOAA Coastal Services Center, as part of their Digital Coast program, has assembled a Coastal Inundation Toolkit. The new “Visualize” section allows users to learn how different types of visualizations can help communities understand their inundation risks and vulnerabilities. The “Picture It” page offers tools and local examples of how photos, maps, and mapping […]
Growing Agreement that Taxpayers Shouldn’t Subsidize Risky Coastal Development
Posted on March 14, 2012
From today’s New York Times: Insurance companies got out of the business of writing flood insurance decades ago, so much of the risk from sea level rise is expected to fall on the financially troubled National Flood Insurance Program, set up by Congress, or on state insurance pools. Federal taxpayers also heavily subsidize coastal development […]
Best Practices for Coastal Louisiana Manual not just for Louisiana
Posted on February 4, 2012
The Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) recently released the Best Practices Manual for Development in Coastal Louisiana website. What’s novel about this site is that it provides strategies for creating sustainable and resilient coastal communities based on “geotypes” (pick from chenier plain, alluvium, upper riverbanks, middle riverbanks, […]