Past and future sea level change Q3

Question 1

how is sea level rise related to climate change?

Answer 1

Global sea levels are rising as a result of human-caused global warming, with recent rates being unprecedented over the past 2,500-plus years. Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers, and the expansion of seawater as it warms.

Question 2

how are coasts effected by sea level rise?

Answer 2

more vulnerable to flooding events and storm events
increased erosion
impacts human coastal populations but also coastal populations of animals (e.g., habitat destruction)

Question 3

how does the coast respond to sea level rise?

Answer 3

coastal erosion
habitat destruction due to flooding

Question 4

what evidence is there for a link between coastal erosion and sea level rise ?

Answer 4

US. east coast beaches - more than 80% have experienced an underlying secular trend of ero­sion during the past 150 years due to increased exposure over time to wave damage and flooding from storms (Leatherman et al, 2000)

Question 5

what evidence is there for a link between habitat destruction and sea level rise?

Answer 5

Sea level rise was reported to be affecting English breeding populations of seabirds at 29 % of sites, with this percentage increasing to 64.2% for soft coast sites (Lock et al)

Question 6

how is sea level rise a good indicator of climate change?

Answer 6

there is a link between the warming of the sea due to climate change and the rise in sea levels. data from fossil records show accelerating sea level rise over the past Holocene period, indicating that climate change is occurring

Question 7

what other concepts might explain a coastal response to climate change?

Answer 7

increased storminess - Long-term changes in the frequency, intensity, timing, and distribution of hurricanes and tropical storms will likely affect biotic functions Long-term changes in the frequency, intensity, timing, and distribution of hurricanes and tropical storms will likely affect biotic functions. e.g., Hurricane Hugo in 1989 (Michener et al, 1997). However, sea level rise and storminess do interact so their respective impacts on the coast are difficult to determine