Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Sea-Level Rise Induced Amplification Of Coastal Protection Design Heights, Arne Arns, Soenke Dangendorf, Juergen Jensen, Stefan Talke, Jens Bender, Charitha Pattiaratchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coastal protection design heights typically consider the superimposed effects of tides, surges, waves, and relative sea-level rise (SLR), neglecting non-linear feedbacks between these forcing factors. Here, we use hydrodynamic modelling and multivariate statistics to show that shallow coastal areas are extremely sensitive to changing non-linear interactions between individual components caused by SLR. As sea-level increases, the depth-limitation of waves relaxes, resulting in waves with larger periods, greater amplitudes, and higher run-up; moreover, depth and frictional changes affect tide, surge, and wave characteristics, altering the relative importance of other risk factors. Consequently, sea-level driven changes in wave characteristics, and to a …