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Download a zip file that includes all the web pages and downloadable files from the student materialsFor the Instructor
These student materials complement the Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.Module 12: Sea level rise policy
Overview
In the previous module, you learned how emergency managers can use the four stages of the disaster cycle (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery) to build communities that are resilient to short-term coastal hazards such as storm surge and tsunami. These short-term (or acute) hazards cause sea levels to rise quickly, remaining above flood levels for hours to days before falling back to normal. Before the seas settle, these acute hazards can leave lasting scars on the natural and human landscape: the tremendous erosive power of a hurricane's waves and surge can cut new channels in barrier islands; or sudden subsidence can combine with a tsunami wave to permanently drown a coastal plain. These examples illustrate a point that has been made repeatedly throughout this course: even short-term coastal hazards can have long-term consequences for lives and property.
However, this course has also stressed the importance of another, slower-paced hazard: sea level rise. Whether caused by rising water or sinking land (or both), this long-term, chronic hazard is slowly acting to increase the damage that acute coastal hazards can cause in many places. For example, New York City has experienced about one foot of sea level rise over the past century, which increased the extent of flooding during hurricane Sandy. Since rising seas are increasing the damage that tsunami and storm surge can cause, this module refers to these hazards collectively as "sea level rise and related hazards."
Credit: By David Shankbone (Own work) https://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/8139684746
Activate Your Learning
This exercise is not for credit, but you are required to understand this material for the formal assessments in this module.
Required Reading
Sea level has risen about a foot in New York Harbor over the past century, increasing the region's exposure to storm surge. To learn more about New York City's vulnerabilities to sea level rise and what the city is doing to address them, read this interview with a NASA climate impacts expert. If this link does not take you directly to the article, go to: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/superstorm-sandy-and-sea-level-rise
After reading the article, answer the following questions:
Question 1 - Essay
Name one of the key infrastructure vulnerabilities for New York City identified in the interview.
Question 2 - Essay
Name one of the social vulnerabilities for New York City identified in the interview.
Question 3 - Essay
List two of the steps that New York City has taken to prepare for sea level rise and storm surge.
Question 4 - Essay
Do you think that the preparations described in the interview will be sufficient to protect New York City's infrastructure and people over the next 50 years? Why or why not?
Question 5 - Essay
Based on what you have already learned in this course, name another strategy (not listed in the interview) that the City could use to prepare for sea level rise and storm surge, and describe how this strategy would protect people and infrastructure.
Sea level rise can also threaten people and property on its own, without interacting with acute hazards such as storm surge and tsunami. As you have seen, these direct effects will likely be particularly severe in low-lying countries such as the Marshall Islands, where sea level rise is expected to flood up to two thirds of the land area by the end of this century.
Credit: Erin Magee/AusAID (link is external) CC-BY-2.0
Question 6 - Essay
Based on what you have already learned in this course, name another strategy (not listed in the interview) that the City could use to prepare for sea level rise and storm surge, and describe how this strategy would protect people and infrastructure.
Given its potential to cause damage on its own and to increase the damage caused by other coastal hazards, it should now be clear why many coastal communities need to prepare for sea level rise. In Unit 3 (Coastal Engineering and Societal Response to Coastal Hazards) you learned many of the strategies communities can use to prepare. This module builds on these earlier lessons by exploring a related problem: how can stakeholders choose which strategies for adapting to sea level rise are best for their communities, both now and in the future? Accordingly, this module focuses on the mitigation phase of the disaster cycle, and explores the following questions:
- Who decides how to prepare for sea level rise?
- What strategies can stakeholders' use to prepare?
- How can stakeholders choose among these strategies?
- Where should these strategies be implemented?
- When should these strategies be implemented?
In the summative activity for this module, you will be asked to draft a report that addresses many of these questions for a real coastal community.
After the activity, a concluding section reviews why it is important to reflect on these questions and what they mean for the future of the relationship between coastal processes, hazards, and society.
