Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Quataert, Ellen
• Storlazzi, Curt
• van Rooijen, Arnold
• Cheriton, Olivia
• van Dongeren, Ap

Titel

The influence of coral reefs and climate change on wave-driven flooding of tropical coastlines

Ist Teil von

• Geophysical research letters, 2015-08, Vol.42 (15), p.6407-6415

Ort / Verlag

Washington: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A numerical model, XBeach, calibrated and validated on field data collected at Roi‐Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of Marshall Islands, was used to examine the effects of different coral reef characteristics on potential coastal hazards caused by wave‐driven flooding and how these effects may be altered by projected climate change. The results presented herein suggest that coasts fronted by relatively narrow reefs with steep fore reef slopes (~1:10 and steeper) and deeper, smoother reef flats are expected to experience the highest wave runup. Wave runup increases for higher water levels (sea level rise), higher waves, and lower bed roughness (coral degradation), which are all expected effects of climate change. Rising sea levels and climate change will therefore have a significant negative impact on the ability of coral reefs to mitigate the effects of coastal hazards in the future. Key Points XBeach accurately reproduces the nearshore reef hydrodynamics at Roi‐Namur Key parameters are fore reef slope, reef flat depth, width, and coral coverage Climate change will lead to increased coastal hazards on reef‐lined islands