Unit 5.5: Adapting to sea level rise

Mark Abolins, Middle Tennessee State University. Although more focused, Unit 5.5 draws heavily on NSF InTeGrate's "Coastal Processes, Hazards, and Society": https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/coastlines/overview.html .

Initial Publication Date: September 20, 2024

Summary

Students explore the potential for sea level rise to inundate coastal areas near Houston, Texas, and they consider ways to adapt to sea level rise. Solutions include engineered measures and managed retreat (the migration of coastal populations to inland areas). Students express and support opinions about the relative merits of various approaches to adaptation. In the summative assessment, students draw on what they learned throughout Unit 5.5 to form and support opinions about the relative merits of different engineered solutions and managed retreat.

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Learning Objectives

At the end of Unit 5.5, students should be able to:

  • Identify coastal areas at risk of inundation due to sea level rise.
  • Describe "hard" and "soft" ways to design for sea level rise.
  • Provide views on managed retreat from a variety of perspectives.
  • Express and support opinions about which option(s) - hard engineered solutions, soft engineered solutions, managed retreat - is/are best.

Context for Use

This activity is intended for use in the middle of an introductory Earth Science course for college-level students. The activity could be used with any class size, and can be completed in approximately 2 hours outside the classroom, plus additional time for in-class and homework activities. There are no pre-requisite skills, other than basic computer literacy and map-reading.

Description and Teaching Materials

Teaching materials:

Pre-class homework (60 min):

The pre-class homework introduces students to sea level rise and ways to adapt

Students learn about (a) the potential for sea level rise to inundate coastal areas and (b) sea level rise adaptations. These adaptations include engineered solutions that fall into two categories: hard and soft. Another potential adaptation is managed retreat, the migration of coastal populations to inland areas. Each student completes the pre-class homework individually.

  • Prompts: Unit 5.5 Pre-Class Homework (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 2.3MB Aug23 24)
  • Answers: .

In class (75 min):

In Part A, students assume roles and explore different perspectives on managed retreat (25 min)

The instructor begins by discussing responses to the pre-class assignment.

Then the class divides into groups of 3-5 students.

Within each group, each student should assume one or two of the following roles.

  • A resident of the community that is retreating.
  • The owner of a business (e.g., a grocery store) in the community that is retreating.
  • A local government official planning to maintain schools and other services in the community from which people are retreating.
  • A resident of the community to which retreating people relocate.
  • The owner of a business in the community to which people relocate.
  • A local government official planning to maintain schools and other services in the community to which people relocate.

For each role, the student should consider what this person perceives as positive, and what this person perceives as negative about retreat. Also, each student should consider how neighbors, community organizations, the government, or some combination of these might reduce any negative impacts of managed retreat. Each student should discuss their views with the other students in the group.

In Part B, students design a future coastal development (50 min)

Students describe the location and key features of a future coastal development. Drawing on information from throughout Unit 5.5, they also express opinions about the pros and cons of hard structures and soft structures, and the relative merits of engineered solutions as opposed to managed retreat. To help the students design their structures and form opinions about different strategies, the instructor shows slides depicting potential solutions.

Homework assignment:

This assignment is a reflection on all of Unit 5.

  • Assignment: Unit 5.5 Homework (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 480kB Aug23 24)
  • Answers: (Answers will vary, but the students should be able to provide specific examples of how they used the science and engineering practices.)

Teaching Notes and Tips

1) To help impress upon students the realities of managed retreat, consider showing this video at the beginning of the in-class assignment: https://youtu.be/a8mL3ZEHyQ8 .

2) The instructor could provide the following resources to students to (a) encourage deeper learning or (b) respond to student questions stimulated by course materials.

3) Unit 5.5 does not explicitly ask students to relate what they learn and do in this unit to hurricane hazard and risk. Some will do so on their own. However, the instructor might consider adding a prompt or prompts explicitly asking students to consider hurricane hazard and risk in the light of sea level rise and managed retreat.


Assessment

The Pre-class assignment can provide formative assessment.

In-class assignment B is the summative assessment for Unit 5.5.

The homework assignment is a reflection on all of Unit 5.

References and Resources

Appenbrink, N., et al. (2012) "Best Practices Manual for Development in Coastal Louisiana." Center for Planning Excellence, https://www.cpex.org/best-practices-manual-coastal .

Bender, E. (2021) "A $26 Billion Plan to Save the Houston Area from Rising Seas." Wired, Conde Nast, 26 June 2021, https://www.wired.com/story/a-dollar26-billion-plan-to-save-the-houston-area-from-rising-seas/.

Cantwell, M. (2021) "How 'Managed Retreat' Can Help Communities Facing Sea Level Rise." YouTube, AAAS, 9 July 2021, https://youtu.be/a8mL3ZEHyQ8.

Cornell, S., et al. (2016) "Module 8: Managed Retreat/Multi-Layered Protection." Student Materials, 8 Dec. 2016, https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/coastlines/student_materials/694

Costley, D. (2021) "Communities Consider 'Managed Retreat' from Climate Change." AP NEWS, Associated Press, 12 Nov. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-south-carolina-fish-7a1857fafd4a5baa38cb6978fbbc8084.

Coulbourne et al. (2011) "Coastal Construction Manual." Federal Emergency Management Agency, https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/fema55_voli_combined.pdf .

Lidz, B. H., et al. (2007) "Systematic Mapping of Bedrock and Habitats along the Florida Reef Tract—Central Key Largo to Halfmoon Shoal (Gulf of Mexico)." USGS Professional Paper 1751, https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/2007/1751/ .

Manning, H., et al. (2014) "Rhode Island Coastal Property Guide." Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, https://www.beachsamp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Rhode-Island-Coastal-Property-Guide-2014.pdf .

NASA (2020) "Earth Science Basics: Sea Level Rise." YouTube, 15 May 2020, https://youtu.be/ul4SwElLeo8.

NOAA (2022) "NOAA Logo Sea Level Rise Viewer." View Site, https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/.

USACE (2013) "Coastal Risk Reduction and Resilience: Using the Full Array of Measures." U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Resources Institute, Coastal Risk Reduction and Resilience: Using the Full Array of Measures, https://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Stories/Article/481104/ .

USACE (2015) "North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study." U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, https://www.nad.usace.army.mil/CompStudy/ .

WSP (2022) "PINELLAS COUNTY SEA LEVEL RISE & STORM SURGE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY," https://pinellas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Pinellas-County_Vulnerability-Assessment_Exec-Summary_2022-reduced.pdf .