Home Climate challengesChanges in coastal climate

Changes in coastal climate

by realemedia34
High-rise buildings along a Gold Coast beach

Coast iconThe challenge

Australia’s coastal zone is economically, culturally, socially and environmentally important. Most of Australia’s population and infrastructure is located here, along with a range of unique coastal and marine ecosystems.

In a changing climate Australia’s coasts are vulnerable to rising sea levels, more frequent and intense storms, ocean acidification and changes in rainfall, run-off, wave size and direction, and ocean currents. Impacts include shoreline erosion, flooding and saltwater inundation, as well as damage from storm surges and extreme weather events.

High-rise buildings along a Gold Coast beach

How the ESCC Hub is meeting the challenge

Improving our understanding of coastal and climate processes will provide coastal planners, developers and decision makers with the information they need to minimise risks now and in the future, and respond to the unavoidable impacts.

 

The following Hub activities are helping to meet this challenge.

  • A landmark report confirms Australia is girt by hotter, higher seas. But there’s still time to act

    The IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC for short) was released last week, and confirms climate change related impacts are occurring in the seas at an unprecedented rate with serious implications for Australia. ESCC Hub research informed the findings of the report.

  • Climate change may change the way ocean waves impact 50% of the world’s coastlines

    Our coastlines play an important role in how we live, providing recreational outlets, supporting ecosystem biodiversity and containing millions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure and assets. Ocean waves, as well as sea levels, are important when considering climate risks to our coastlines. If warming continues in-line with current trends we are likely to experience significant changes in wave conditions with potential implications for coastal infrastructure and ecosystems.

  • Understanding ocean change

    PROJECT 5.7: Tracking ocean change – ocean observations and models The ocean impacts Australia’s climate and the frequency and magnitude+

  • Marine and coastal climate services

    PROJECT 5.8: Marine and coastal climate services for extremes information Australia is a coastal nation. Changes in our coastal climate,+

  • Natural habitats for coastal protection and carbon sequestration

    PROJECT 5.9: Natural habitats for coastal protection and carbon sequestration – Phase 2 of the National Centre for Coasts and+

  • Applying Australia’s climate model

    PROJECT 5.1: ACCESS evaluation and application Climate models are indispensable for understanding climate variability and the past and future changes+

  • Shark Bay: A World Heritage Site at catastrophic risk

    8 February 2019 Matthew Fraser, Ana Sequeira, Brendan Paul Burns, Diana Walker,  Jon C. Day  and Scott Heron The ESCC+

  • Making coastal hazards information more accessible

    CASE STUDY 3.8: Web delivery portal for coastal hazards information Our sea level and coastal hazards researchers are world leaders+

  • Breathing new life into old tide records

    A project to digitise old tide records will enable analysis of how extreme sea levels along Australia’s coastline have changed over time – and you can be involved!

  • Understanding coastal hazards to reduce impacts

    Our research into sea level, storm surges and waves will inform policy, planning and development decisions that will minimise the economic, environmental and human cost of coastal hazards.

  • International benchmarking of Australia’s climate model

    We’ve updated Australia’s national climate model, the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS), so it can participate in CMIP6 and therefore be used by national and international climate researchers.

  • Understanding climate variability and extremes

    We’ve analysed past climate variability and extremes to enhance our understanding of the underpinning climate drivers, and shed light on the extent to which these extreme events are influenced by human activities.

  • Decadal prediction and the predictability of marine heatwaves

    We’ve made significant steps towards developing a decadal forecasting system and capability to fill the critical gap between seasonal climate predictions and multi-decadal climate projections. We’ve also improved understanding of marine heat wave trends, causes, the influence of human activities and the predictability of ocean temperature extremes over multi-year to decadal timescales. 

  • Understanding ocean heat uptake

    We’ve used data collected from ocean monitoring (historical archives, Argo floats and research vessels) to improve understanding of past changes in ocean temperature and salinity. We also used this data to identify sources of bias in ocean heat update efficiency in climate models, as well as to examine the connection between ocean salinity changes and water balance over Australia.