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Life Sciences Commons

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2018

Natural Resources and Conservation

Western Washington University

Sea level rise

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Using A Design Charrette And State Of The Art Coastal Modeling To Support Local Government Adaptation To Sea Level Rise, Carol Macilroy, John Doyle, Eric Grossman, Guillaume Mauger Apr 2018

Using A Design Charrette And State Of The Art Coastal Modeling To Support Local Government Adaptation To Sea Level Rise, Carol Macilroy, John Doyle, Eric Grossman, Guillaume Mauger

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The majority of the Town of La Conner sits at an elevation (MLLW) of 8-13 feet where over the last number of years Town staff have gone from seeing the baseboards of their overwater business district being reached once or twice every four to five years to being reached four to five times a year. These high water events come at great expense to the Town and leave the Town regularly just shy of a major disaster. The Town of La Conner partnered with the Skagit Climate Science Consortium (including USGS, UW Climate Impacts Group and Western Washington University) and …


Guidelines For Mapping Sea Level Rise And Uncertainty, Robert Norheim, Guillaume Mauger Apr 2018

Guidelines For Mapping Sea Level Rise And Uncertainty, Robert Norheim, Guillaume Mauger

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Sea level rise (SLR) due to anthropogenic global warming will affect coastlines throughout the Salish Sea, but will have particular impacts in places such as estuaries and cities, where there is significant built environment close to sea level (e.g., Tacoma Tideflats/Port of Tacoma). Projections for SLR in the Salish Sea range from 6” to 6’ by the year 2100, with a mean projection of 2’. This uncertainty is challenging for planners and managers who wish to incorporate SLR projections into their planning processes. A team of researchers at the UW Climate Impacts Group (CIG), Washington Sea Grant (WSG), University of …


Potential Interactions Of Sea Level Rise And Sedimentation In The Lower Puyallup River, Jeff Parsons Apr 2018

Potential Interactions Of Sea Level Rise And Sedimentation In The Lower Puyallup River, Jeff Parsons

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Sea level rise and sedimentation have both been documented to contribute to future flooding in the densely developed Lower Puyallup River valley. However, their impacts have only been analyzed in isolation. In the Lower Puyallup River, these processes will interact. As sea level rises, the salt wedge, which is often flushed from leveed river channel, will be increasingly located in the leveed river channel, exacerbating sedimentation issues. Since the reach is no longer dredged, this sedimentation will decrease conveyance and increase the risk of the flooding over time. The interactions of the salt wedge and sedimentation will be nonlinear and …


Understanding Community Perceptions On Sea Level Rise Adaptation, Tina Whitman, Stephanie Buffum, Shannon Davis Apr 2018

Understanding Community Perceptions On Sea Level Rise Adaptation, Tina Whitman, Stephanie Buffum, Shannon Davis

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Increased population growth in our region coupled with the flood and erosion hazards posed by a changing climate will increase demand for hard shoreline armoring across the Salish Sea. Decisions by waterfront property owners, shoreline land managers, and coastal communities about how to adapt to the impacts of rising seas will affect how marine shorelines look and function for generations to come. Understanding landowner and community perspectives on sea level rise adaptation strategies is an essential element of both resiliency planning and efforts to protect and restore marine ecosystems. As part of ongoing work to advance habitat friendly adaptation actions …


Sea Level Rise Guidance For Nearshore Habitat Restoration In Puget Sound, Harriet Morgan, Nicole Faghin, Jay Krienitz, Tish Conway-Cranos Apr 2018

Sea Level Rise Guidance For Nearshore Habitat Restoration In Puget Sound, Harriet Morgan, Nicole Faghin, Jay Krienitz, Tish Conway-Cranos

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Many agencies, organizations, and communities across Puget Sound are working to restore nearshore habitats from historic degradation to reestablish or maintain the functionality of these ecosystems. Sea level rise is expected to cause increased coastal flooding in low-lying areas and increased storm surge reach in coastal zones. There is widespread recognition that these new threats must be addressed in the siting, design, and maintenance of Puget Sound’s nearshore habitat restoration projects, especially given the limited resources available for restoration. In spite of this, existing information on sea level rise has not yet been synthesized in a way that facilitates incorporation …


An Investigation Of Benthic Recovery And Climate Change Resilience In The Englishman River Estuary, Connie L. Miller Retzer, Thomas G. Reid, Peter K. Dekoning Apr 2018

An Investigation Of Benthic Recovery And Climate Change Resilience In The Englishman River Estuary, Connie L. Miller Retzer, Thomas G. Reid, Peter K. Dekoning

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

SNAPSHOT: A benthic monitoring program will be added in 2018 to the ongoing Englishman River Estuary recovery study, situated on the east coast of Vancouver Island. This will complement investigations which have been ongoing, prior to and following the removal of a berm during 2017. Changes in salinity patterns, flow regimes, channel morphology, elevation, sediment size, and vegetation distribution are being assessed and these variables will be used to map distinctive areas of the estuary. Benthic samples will be collected from representative areas and monitored over the long term. Relative and total abundance, species diversity, biomass, and various derivatives of …


Fir Island Farm: Estuary Restoration Project: Designing For Climate Change And Uncertainty In Shoreline Flood Risk Reduction And Ecosystem Restoration Projects, David Cline Apr 2018

Fir Island Farm: Estuary Restoration Project: Designing For Climate Change And Uncertainty In Shoreline Flood Risk Reduction And Ecosystem Restoration Projects, David Cline

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The recently designed and constructed Fir Island Farm – Estuary Restoration Project involves construction of a 1-mile long shoreline levee (dike) setback for restoration of 130 acres of farm land for tidal marsh estuary ecosystem restoration. The key uncertainty, and resiliency, design elements of concern include 1) selection of dike level of protection and design elevations considering climate change sea level rise projections, 2) inclusion of erosion protection measures, 3) farm drainage tailwater conditions and 4) ecosystem marsh vegetated plain future elevations and large woody debris loading conditions. This presentation discusses how site characterization, instrumentation, numerical modeling and monitoring were …