%0 Book %A National Research Council %T Reducing Coastal Risk on the East and Gulf Coasts %@ 978-0-309-30586-0 %D 2014 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18811/reducing-coastal-risk-on-the-east-and-gulf-coasts %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18811/reducing-coastal-risk-on-the-east-and-gulf-coasts %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %P 208 %X Hurricane- and coastal-storm-related losses have increased substantially during the past century, largely due to increases in population and development in the most susceptible coastal areas. Climate change poses additional threats to coastal communities from sea level rise and possible increases in strength of the largest hurricanes. Several large cities in the United States have extensive assets at risk to coastal storms, along with countless smaller cities and developed areas. The devastation from Superstorm Sandy has heightened the nation's awareness of these vulnerabilities. What can we do to better prepare for and respond to the increasing risks of loss? Reducing Coastal Risk on the East and Gulf Coasts reviews the coastal risk-reduction strategies and levels of protection that have been used along the United States East and Gulf Coasts to reduce the impacts of coastal flooding associated with storm surges. This report evaluates their effectiveness in terms of economic return, protection of life safety, and minimization of environmental effects. According to this report, the vast majority of the funding for coastal risk-related issues is provided only after a disaster occurs. This report calls for the development of a national vision for coastal risk management that includes a long-term view, regional solutions, and recognition of the full array of economic, social, environmental, and life-safety benefits that come from risk reduction efforts. To support this vision, Reducing Coastal Risk states that a national coastal risk assessment is needed to identify those areas with the greatest risks that are high priorities for risk reduction efforts. The report discusses the implications of expanding the extent and levels of coastal storm surge protection in terms of operation and maintenance costs and the availability of resources. Reducing Coastal Risk recommends that benefit-cost analysis, constrained by acceptable risk criteria and other important environmental and social factors, be used as a framework for evaluating national investments in coastal risk reduction. The recommendations of this report will assist engineers, planners and policy makers at national, regional, state, and local levels to move from a nation that is primarily reactive to coastal disasters to one that invests wisely in coastal risk reduction and builds resilience among coastal communities. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Responding to Changes in Sea Level: Engineering Implications %@ 978-0-309-03781-5 %D 1987 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1006/responding-to-changes-in-sea-level-engineering-implications %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1006/responding-to-changes-in-sea-level-engineering-implications %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %P 160 %X Over the last 100 years, sea level has risen approximately 12 centimeters and is expected to continue rising at an even faster rate. This situation has serious implications for human activity along our coasts. In this book, geological and coastal engineering experts examine recent sea level trends and project changes over the next 100 years, anticipating shoreline response to changing sea level and the consequences for coastal development and uses. Scenarios for future sea level rise and several case studies are presented. %0 Book %T Meeting Research and Education Needs in Coastal Engineering %@ 978-0-309-06381-4 %D 1999 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9613/meeting-research-and-education-needs-in-coastal-engineering %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9613/meeting-research-and-education-needs-in-coastal-engineering %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %P 74 %X After discussions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Office of Naval Research, the National Research Council (NRC) convened a committee under the auspices of the Marine Board to examine present and anticipated national needs in coastal engineering research and education and assess the adequacy and effectiveness of existing institutions in meeting those needs. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Managing Coastal Erosion %@ 978-0-309-08371-3 %D 1990 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1446/managing-coastal-erosion %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1446/managing-coastal-erosion %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %P 204 %X More and more of the nation's vast coastlines are being filled with homes and vacation resorts. The result is an increasing number of structures built on erosion-prone shores—with many of these structures facing collapse or damage. In response to mounting property losses, Congress has given the Federal Emergency Management Agency responsibility for incorporating coastal erosion into its National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This book from the National Research Council addresses the immediate question of how to develop an erosion insurance program—as well as the larger issues raised by the continually changing face of our nation's shorelines. Managing Coastal Erosion explores major questions surrounding a national policy on coastal erosion: Should the federal government be in the business of protecting developers and individuals who build in erosion-prone coastal areas? How should such a program be implemented? Can it prompt more responsible management of coastal areas? The volume provides federal policymakers, state floodplain and resource managers, civil engineers, environmental groups, marine specialists, development companies, and researchers with invaluable information about the natural processes of coastal erosion and the effect of human activity on those processes. The book also details the workings of the NFIP, lessons to be learned from numerous state coastal management programs, and much more. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Great Lakes Water Levels: Shoreline Dilemmas : Report on a Colloquium %D 1989 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18405/great-lakes-water-levels-shoreline-dilemmas-report-on-a-colloquium %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18405/great-lakes-water-levels-shoreline-dilemmas-report-on-a-colloquium %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 172 %X Much is known about the causes, characteristics, and consequences of Great Lakes water level fluctuation. Nevertheless, human activities around the lakes have evolved in a way that exposes many people and structures to a hazard of substantial proportions. Every indication is that the magnitude of this hazard will increase in the future. Engineering solutions to minimize this hazard have been proposed but never have been implemented. After repeated studies, the effectiveness of these measures remains controversial, and their cost-effectiveness is in doubt. Public policy toward the development and protection of shore lands appears to be at odds with the physical realities of the lakes. In fact, many of the experts involved in this colloquium argued that existing policy seems to assume the possibility, even the probability, of an engineered solution. Yet alternative policies, more reflective of the limits of technology and of sensible cost-benefit tradeoffs, face significant legal, institutional, political, and social constraints. Great Lakes Water Levels: Shoreline Dilemmas explains the recommendations and events of the colloquium. This report explains that many of the Great Lakes' problems could be resolved, provided the need to do so is widely perceived for a sufficiently long period. In this case, however, the lakes are not cooperating. After reaching record high levels in 1986, water levels began to fall, and the public sense of urgency waned soon thereafter. Many colloquium participants referred to this relationship between water levels and levels of public interests. Perhaps the greatest challenge is to find a way to formulate and win acceptance for a sensible Great Lakes management policy in the absence of a water level crisis. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Sea-Level Rise for the Coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington: Past, Present, and Future %@ 978-0-309-25594-3 %D 2012 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13389/sea-level-rise-for-the-coasts-of-california-oregon-and-washington %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13389/sea-level-rise-for-the-coasts-of-california-oregon-and-washington %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Environment and Environmental Studies %K Earth Sciences %P 216 %X Tide gauges show that global sea level has risen about 7 inches during the 20th century, and recent satellite data show that the rate of sea-level rise is accelerating. As Earth warms, sea levels are rising mainly because ocean water expands as it warms; and water from melting glaciers and ice sheets is flowing into the ocean. Sea-level rise poses enormous risks to the valuable infrastructure, development, and wetlands that line much of the 1,600 mile shoreline of California, Oregon, and Washington. As those states seek to incorporate projections of sea-level rise into coastal planning, they asked the National Research Council to make independent projections of sea-level rise along their coasts for the years 2030, 2050, and 2100, taking into account regional factors that affect sea level. Sea-Level Rise for the Coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington: Past, Present, and Future explains that sea level along the U.S. west coast is affected by a number of factors. These include: climate patterns such as the El Nino, effects from the melting of modern and ancient ice sheets, and geologic processes, such as plate tectonics. Regional projections for California, Oregon, and Washington show a sharp distinction at Cape Mendocino in northern California. South of that point, sea-level rise is expected to be very close to global projections. However, projections are lower north of Cape Mendocino because the land is being pushed upward as the ocean plate moves under the continental plate along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. However, an earthquake magnitude 8 or larger, which occurs in the region every few hundred to 1,000 years, would cause the land to drop and sea level to suddenly rise. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda %@ 978-0-309-48452-7 %D 2019 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25259/negative-emissions-technologies-and-reliable-sequestration-a-research-agenda %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25259/negative-emissions-technologies-and-reliable-sequestration-a-research-agenda %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %K Environment and Environmental Studies %P 510 %X To achieve goals for climate and economic growth, "negative emissions technologies" (NETs) that remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the air will need to play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Unlike carbon capture and storage technologies that remove carbon dioxide emissions directly from large point sources such as coal power plants, NETs remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or enhance natural carbon sinks. Storing the carbon dioxide from NETs has the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Recent analyses found that deploying NETs may be less expensive and less disruptive than reducing some emissions, such as a substantial portion of agricultural and land-use emissions and some transportation emissions. In 2015, the National Academies published Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration, which described and initially assessed NETs and sequestration technologies. This report acknowledged the relative paucity of research on NETs and recommended development of a research agenda that covers all aspects of NETs from fundamental science to full-scale deployment. To address this need, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda assesses the benefits, risks, and "sustainable scale potential" for NETs and sequestration. This report also defines the essential components of a research and development program, including its estimated costs and potential impact.