Unravelling decadal-scale coastal response to accelerated sea level rise

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities induced global warming have caused visible consequences in the increase of atmosphere and ocean temperatures. During the 20th century, the global sea level rise behaves a non-uniformed rising rate. In most of the 20th century, the global mean sea level (GMSL) has risen to around 1.8 mm/yr. However, since the early 90s, this rate has increased beyond 3 mm/yr, and from 2006 – 2018 the rate of rise is 3.7 mm/yr. Many researchers have suggested that relatively moderate changes in sea level can cause significant shoreline changes. One of the most significant impacts of sea level rise can be attributed to the retreat of the shoreline, owing to the permanent passive submersion of lands and coastal erosion. To comprehensively understand the effect of sea level rise on different coastal areas, multiple site-specific data-driven models are developed based on the collected global sandy beach datasets. Based on the long-term evolution of available beach indicators, this research are dedicated to studying spatial and temporal topographic morphological variation as a response to relative regional rising sea level.