Catastrophic Coastal Storms

As people cluster on the coast in increasing numbers, coastal populations become more vulnerable to severe damage from catastrophic coastal storms. The authors contented that current public policy has proved unable to cope with the growing problem, and in response they present a comprehensive analysis of coastal storm hazards, standard policy approaches, and promising new means of managing coastal growth. Catastrophic Coastal Storms offers a solution to the policy problem by proposing a merger of hazard mitigation with development management, basing this on extensive surveys of at-risk coastal locations and case studies of post-hurricane recovery. Starting with the local level of government and proceeding to state and federal levels, the authors propose a strategy for overcoming the formidable obstacles to safeguarding the shoreline population and its structures from hurricanes and other severe storms.

More severe storms and rising seas will inexorably push the American coastline inland with profound impact on communities, infrastructure, and natural systems. In A New Coast, Jeffrey Peterson presents the science behind predictions for coastal impacts and explains how current policies fall short of what's needed to prepare for these changes. He outlines a framework of bold, new national policies and funding to support local and state governments. Peterson calls for engagement of citizens, the private sector, as well as local and national leaders in a "campaign for a new coast." This is a forward-looking volume offering new insights for policymakers, planners, business leaders preparing for the changes coming to America's coast.

A large part of the world’s coastlines consists of sandy beaches and dunes that may undergo dramatic changes during storms. Extreme storm events in some cases dominate the erosion history of the coastline and may have dramatic impacts on densely populated coastal areas. Policy, research and historical background are essential elements that need to be interconnected for effective coastal planning and management. This book discusses this framework, with Chapter 1 providing an insight into policy settings and science-policy interactions in the area of coastal risks related to storms and flooding, and integrated coastal zone management. This is followed by a review of the current understanding of the processes generating extreme coastal events, the morphological evolution of coastlines during and after the events, and the methods for monitoring the process as it occurs or for post-event appraisal. The final chapter discusses the importance of historical approaches regarding coastal threats, taking the Xynthia storm as an example.

As people cluster on the coast in increasing numbers, coastal populations become more vulnerable to severe damage from catastrophic coastal storms. The authors contented that current public policy has proved unable to cope with the growing problem, and in response they present a comprehensive analysis of coastal storm hazards, standard policy approaches, and promising new means of managing coastal growth. Catastrophic Coastal Storms offers a solution to the policy problem by proposing a merger of hazard mitigation with development management, basing this on extensive surveys of at-risk coastal locations and case studies of post-hurricane recovery. Starting with the local level of government and proceeding to state and federal levels, the authors propose a strategy for overcoming the formidable obstacles to safeguarding the shoreline population and its structures from hurricanes and other severe storms.

With global climate change, population growth, and economic development in the 21st century, large cyclonic storm surges might result in overwhelming effects in some coastal areas of the world. Major storms can considerably change how a coast looks. Such storms characterize a break in the normal processes that occur along coasts. Significant erosion, transport, and deposition of sediment occur during storms. Coastal storms can take a devastating toll on the public's health. Urban areas may be particularly at risk, given their dense population, reliance on transportation, energy infrastructure that is vulnerable to flood damage, and high-rise residential housing, which may be hard-hit by power and utility outages. Climate change will exacerbate these risks in the coming decades. Sea levels are rising due to global warming, which will intensify storm surge. These projections make preparing for the health impacts of storms even more important. At the regional scale, coastal countries and regions around the world have developed a wide range of storm surge risk assessment. Risks of storm surge at a global scale are usually assessed with a wide range of sea-level rise, flood, and tropical cyclone projections.Coastal Storms covers a wide-ranging overview and innovative text that is particularly devoted to the analysis of coastal storms. The chapters contributed by leading researchers inspect coastal storms' procedures and characteristics, the main hazards by coastal storms, and how to examine and model storms. Providing a preliminary outlook on risks that may help governments of countries to make storm surge disaster prevention and reduction plans; it integrates comprehensive information on the most sophisticated innovations in forecasting, and early warning, which works as a tool for accurate risk assessment and developing sufficient coastal indicators and management strategies. This comprehensive guide will be an up to date tool for advanced students, professionals and researchers in the field.

This volume is a collection of papers, preceded by an introductory essay, on coastal physiography. All the authors have made significant contributions to the subject. They are of different nationalities and the papers are, deliberately, not all recent ones. In this book emphasis has been laid primarily on matters which are of general rather than local or even regional value. For example, Dr. Jelgersma's paper gives an account of recent fluctuations of sea level and is a most useful summary of the different hypotheses dealing with this complex matter. Zenkovich's paper serves as an introduction to Russian work on coastal physiography and Per Bruun's paper serves as an excellent summary of the economic reasons for coastal research. Contents: Sea-level Changes during the Last 10,000 Years,S. Jelgersma; The Main Post-glacial Raised Shoreline of Western Scotland from the Firth of Lorne to Loch Broom,S. B. McCann; Trend Surface Mapping of Raised Shorelines,S. B. McCann and R. J. Chorley; Marking Beach Materials for Tracing Experiments,C. Kidson and A. P. Carr; A Theory of the Development of Accumulation Forms in the Coastal Zone,V. P. Zenkovich; The Relationship between Wave Incidence, Wind Direction and Beach Changes at Marsden Bay, County Durham,Cuchlaine A. M. King; The Influence of Rock Structures on Coastline and Cliff Development around Tintagel, North Cornwall,Gilbert Wilson; The Form of Nantasket Beach,Douglas W. Johnson and William G. Reed, Jr.; Methods of Correlating Cultural Remains with Stages of Coastal Development,William G. McIntire; Coastal Research and its Economic Justification,Per Bruun.

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and magnitude of coastal storms around the globe, and the anticipated rise of sea levels will have enormous impact on fragile and vulnerable coastal regions. In the U.S., more than 50% of the population inhabits coastal areas. In Planning for Coastal Resilience, Tim Beatley argues that, in the face of such threats, all future coastal planning and management must reflect a commitment to the concept of resilience. In this timely book, he writes that coastal resilience must become the primary design and planning principle to guide all future development and all future infrastructure decisions. Resilience, Beatley explains, is a profoundly new way of viewing coastal infrastructure—an approach that values smaller, decentralized kinds of energy, water, and transport more suited to the serious physical conditions coastal communities will likely face. Implicit in the notion is an emphasis on taking steps to build adaptive capacity, to be ready ahead of a crisis or disaster. It is anticipatory, conscious, and intentional in its outlook. After defining and explaining coastal resilience, Beatley focuses on what it means in practice. Resilience goes beyond reactive steps to prevent or handle a disaster. It takes a holistic approach to what makes a community resilient, including such factors as social capital and sense of place. Beatley provides case studies of five U.S. coastal communities, and “resilience profiles” of six North American communities, to suggest best practices and to propose guidelines for increasing resilience in threatened communities.