Coastal Geomorphology Working Group

Background and Rationale

More than half of the world’s population lives in coastal areas. Coastal populations are continuing to increase resulting in new urban development. These populations face threats due to rising sea levels, hurricanes, coastal storms, tsunamis and coastal erosion. These are likely to be exacerbated by global climate change and direct impacts from local human activities. In order to reduce and mitigate damage to the environment and coastal communities, urban development in coastal areas needs to be accomplished in a sustainable manner. In recognition of those growing risks, enhancing coastal resilience has become the topic of great environmental and socioeconomic focus, and a priority for governments, industries, and environmental advocates.

Ocean and coastal observations can supply datasets and information that provide a solid foundation for developing hazard warning systems, marine spatial planning and improving climate change adaptation strategies for humanity and increasing the resilience of ecosystems for sustainable development.

However, our ability to understand coastal changes has been limited by an incomplete understanding of the processes and the difficulty of obtaining detailed data. There is also a need to share existing coastal hazards resources and collect/integrate new in-situ data, from local-to-global levels and across all scales and types of coastal hazards. This is required to understand coastal processes but also necessary to inform local and regional stakeholders to develop plans and sustainable management practices.

This Working Group will work with countries to identify the needs and the gaps in data availability and knowledge sharing for the coastal communities. It will support the implementation of actions to promote informed socio-economic strategies, bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and decision-makers.

The scope of this Working Group covers near shore and offshore mapping (bathymetry and coastal erosion/accretion, coastal inundations, etc.) and the development of early warning systems for coastal hazards management.

Current Actions

WAVEFORCE

The Wave-driven Flood-forecasting on Reef-lined Coasts Early warning system (WaveFoRCE) will provide all coral reef-lined coasts in the world with forecasts for all forms of marine flooding and inundation with the exception of a tsunami.

Ocean Observing and Prediction for Coastal Sustainability Stakeholder Workshops
A series of workshops will focus on identifying the priorities and needs for ocean observations and prediction to address the challenges of coastal sustainability in Africa.

Objectives

The objectives of GEO Blue Planet Coastal Geomorphology Working Group are to:

Work with stakeholders at regional and local scales to identify data and information gaps;
Provide networking and coordination support to connect the marine hazard community;
Identify best practices related monitoring and management to inform policy recommendations and to measure the impact of mitigation strategies.
Provide support for technology transfer, training, and information exchange on coastal Hazards monitoring and management

Resources

General Resources

This Working Group is supported by its members on a “best-effort” basis, who will provide scientific and technical expertise.
The GEO Blue Planet Secretariat lead will support the following Working Group activities: ensure actions are on track, schedule meetings, ensure Working Group activities are align with GEO Blue planet missions, provide connections to other GEO Blue Planet Working Groups and Activities, connect the Working Group co-chairs with the Steering Committee and the Executive Committee and connect Working Groups with relevant grants or funding opportunities available through GEO.
The implementation of actual partnerships and formal collaboration agreements aligned with the identified deliverables and involving members of this working group will require the identification of the appropriate funding opportunities inside or outside GEO Blue Planet’s and/or other member agencies domains.

WaveForce Resources

Resources to develop the central model upon which WaveFoRCE is based came from the US Geological Survey (USGS) and Deltares. Resources to establish demonstration sites came from USGS, Deltares, NOAA, and ReefSense.
Resources to implement WaveFoRCE globally will come from NOAA, USGS, Deltares, ReefSense, and funding from a yet-to-be-determined source.
Resources to maintain the forecasts after the implementation phase (expected to take 5 years) are expected to come from NOAA.

Working Group Composition

Co-chairs

Coming soon!

Secretariat Lead

Erica Wales (Ocean Remote Sensing Program Lead, NOAA)

Emily Smail (GEO Blue Planet Executive Director, University of Maryland/NOAA)

Audrey Hasson (GEO Blue Planet EU Coordinator, Mercator Ocean International)

Members

WaveForce Team Members

Team-leads: Dr. William Skirving (NOAA/ReefSense), Dr. Curt Storlazzi (USGS), Dr. Robert McCall (Deltares), Dr. Ap van Dongeren (Deltares), Dr. Blake Spady (NOAA/ReefSense and an early career scientist).

Team Members: Dr. William Skirving (NOAA/ReefSense), Dr. Curt Storlazzi (USGS), Dr. Robert McCall (Deltares), Dr. Ap van Dongeren (Deltares), Dr. Blake Spady (NOAA/ReefSense), Dr. Emily Smail (GEO Blue Planet), Dr. Paul DiGiacomo (NOAA), Dr. Eric Leuliette (NOAA), Dr. Andre van der Westhuysen (NOAA), Dr. Avichal Mehra (NOAA), Dr. Zulema Garraffo (NOAA), Dr. John Marra (NOAA), Dr. Ron Hoeke (CSIRO), Dr. Herve Damlamian (SPC)

Additional Action Members Coming Soon!

As a voluntary group, membership to the working group organizing committee and project task is open. To inquire about the working group, please contact the secretariat lead.

Deliverables 2022-2025

Action 1
WaveForce Development
Low-lying coral reef-lined islands and coasts are vulnerable to marine flooding as a result of storms. These events are occurring with ever increasing frequency and severity due to climate change and sea-level rise. They are a result of a combination of sea surface elevation and wave height, and can cause severe coastal flooding even on windless, sunny days. Increasing the resilience of coastal communities, while decreasing the risk to them, are key to the continued inhabitance of these islands and coastal areas in the near future.

Flood forecasting is a key tool for disaster risk reduction and increasing resilience of coastal communities. The Wave-driven Flood-forecasting on Reef-lined Coasts Early warning system (WaveFoRCE) is an Action established to combine satellite observations with models to provide marine flood forecasts for all coral reef-lined coasts in the world.
Action 2
Satellite Derived Coastal Bathymetry Mapping for the Pacific Islands
The working group is planning to develop an effort to support satellite derived coastal bathymetry mapping of the Pacific Islands. This will be done in support of Seabed 2030.

Additional information to follow. Work is still ongoing on the definition of the members and the description of the action /activity
Action 3
Coastal Erosion/Accretion Monitoring
Coastal zones are home to unique ecosystems where complex ecological processes take place. Yet, these zones are continually changing due to the dynamic interaction between terrestrial, aquatic, atmospheric, and human landscapes. Waves and winds along the coast are both eroding rock and depositing sediment continuously, and rates of erosion and accretion vary considerably from day to day in these areas.

The rapid appearance of new infrastructures, urban extensions and densification, overlain by climate change effects, rapidly accelerates the deterioration of coastal ecosystems and their ecological service functions. This makes the Low-lying coastal areas highly vulnerable to natural hazards such as sea level rise and extreme storms/tsunami. Thus, an understanding of the interactions of the oceans and the land is essential in understanding the hazards associated with coastal zones.

However, there are considerable knowledge and data gaps in achieving effective and future change-proof sustainable management of coastal zones around the world due to technical and social barriers, as well as governance challenges.

This activity aims to help in providing a roadmap enabling to rely on the capabilities of Earth observations datasets and information to better support coastal zone management and mitigation of coastal hazards for sustainable development.

Potential activities with Digital Earth Africa, the Korean Maritime Institute, University of Cork College in Ireland and University of Ghana.

Specifics to be determined. Work is still ongoing on the definition of the members and the description of this action.