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A global analysis of subsidence, relative sea-level change and coastal flood exposure.

Nicholls, R.J., Lincke, D., Hinkel, J., Brown, S., Vafeidis, A.T., Meyssignac, B., Hanson, S., Merkens, J. and Fang, J., 2021. A global analysis of subsidence, relative sea-level change and coastal flood exposure. Nature Climate Change, 11, 338-342.

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DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-00993-z

Abstract

Climate-induced sea-level rise and vertical land movements, including natural and humaninduced subsidence in sedimentary coastal lowlands, combine to change relative sea levels around the world's coast. Although this affects local rates of sea-level rise, assessments of the coastal impacts of subsidence are lacking on a global scale. Here, we quantify global-mean relative sea-level rise to be 2.5 mm/yr over the last two decades. However, as coastal inhabitants are preferentially located in subsiding locations, they experience an average relative sea-level rise up to four times faster at 7.8 to 9.9 mm/yr. These results indicate that the impacts and adaptation needs are much higher than reported global sea-level rise measurements suggest. In particular, human-induced subsidence in and surrounding coastal cities can be rapidly reduced with appropriate policy for groundwater utilization and drainage. Such policy would offer substantial and rapid benefits to reduce growth of coastal flood exposure due to relative sea-level rise.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1758-678X
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:35091
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:22 Jan 2021 12:00
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 14:26

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