Online Resources – Coastal Land Loss
Topic Key
Interactive Tools
Coastal Adaptation to Sea Level Rise Tool (COAST)
"COAST is a process that helps users answer questions in regards to the costs and benefits of actions and strategies to avoid damages to assets from sea level rise and/or coastal flooding: Should we build a sea wall? Should we develop a proactive building ordinance? Should we build a levee? Should we change our zoning? Should we relocate?"
Source: Blue Marble Geographics
Coastal Change Hazards
"This portal provides scientifically credible data suitable for use in land use planning projects, storm response and recovery protocols, and infrastructure, ecosystem, and cultural resource management decision-making. Resources are organized under three coastal hazard themes: extreme storms, shoreline change, and sea level rise."
Source: USGS
Coastal Inundation
"Inundation Dashboard provides real-time and historic coastal flooding information at a majority of coastal water level stations operated by the National Ocean Service (NOS) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products & Services (CO-OPS). The product features both a map based view where users can easily view coastal flooding information geospatially and a more detailed station view where real-time and historical data for a specific location are highlighted."
Source: NOAA
Coastal Resilience Evaluation and Siting Tool (CREST)
"CREST can be used to make informed decisions about the siting of restoration and resilience projects. The tool identifies Resilience Hubs, which are areas of open space where projects may have the greatest potential to benefit both human community resilience and fish and wildlife. Resilience Hubs incorporate multiple indices, which can also be explored through CREST."
Coastwide Reference Monitoring System
The Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) was designed to monitor the effectiveness of restoration actions at multiple spatial scales from individual projects to the influence of projects on the entire coastal landscape. The CRMS design includes a suite of sites encompassing a range of ecological conditions in swamp habitats and fresh, intermediate, brackish, and salt marshes. The CRMS reference network approach allows for comparisons of changing conditions at CRMS sites within and outside of restoration and protection projects."
To go directly to the mapping tool, click here.
Losing Ground
"In 50 years, most of southeastern Louisiana not protected by levees will be part of the Gulf of Mexico. The state is losing a football field of land every 48 minutes -- 16 square miles a year -- due to climate change, drilling and dredging for oil and gas, and levees on the Mississippi River. At risk: Nearly all of the nation's offshore oil and gas production, much of its seafood production, and millions of homes."
Source: ProPublica / The Lens
Master Plan Data Viewer
"This viewer displays the results from CPRA’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan and provides resources to reduce risk. Information includes: future land change, storm surge flood risk, coastal vegetation, and social vulnerability. Also included are the state’s proposed restoration, structural protection, and nonstructural risk reduction projects to help make communities safer. This information is for coastal planning purposes, and is not appropriate for site-specific decision making."
Source: CPRA
Useful Websites
Adaptation Strategies for Sea-Level Rise
"The[se] adaptation strategies offer possible ways to address anticipated climate risks to residences, buildings and infrastructure in areas vulnerable to sea-level rise."
Source: Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute
Cards Against Calamity
"What would you do if your job was to manage a small coastal community besieged by job loss, irate voters, hurricanes, oil spills, and hipsters? Here’s a way to find out: boot up your laptop or tablet and check out the new “serious game,” Digital Cards Against Calamity. Cards Against Calamity is designed to be not only entertaining, but also educational by raising awareness of the issues surrounding coastal resilience, backed up by government data."
Source: Environmental Law Institute / OCTO
Game of Floods
"Sea levels are rising world-wide as warming oceans expand and melt glaciers and ice sheets. Stronger storms coupled with rising seas can significantly damage— even destroy—property, infrastructure, public facilities, natural habitats, and other resources we depend on. In the face of these threats, planning commission members are tasked with collaboratively developing an Adaptation Plan using the strategies (game pieces) for the scenarios provided."
For a direct link to download the game materials, click here.
Source: County of Marin, CA
CWPPRA Maps Portal
This site provides the user with downloadable aerial photography, maps, land change, and hurricane information for Louisiana.
Source: CWPPRA
Living Shorelines
"'Living shorelines' is a term used to define a number of shoreline protection options that allow for natural coastal processes to remain through the strategic placement of plants, stone, sand fill, and other structural and organic materials. Living shorelines often rely on native plants, sometimes supplemented with stone sills, on-shore or off-shore breakwaters, groins, or biologs to reduce wave energy, trap sediment, and filter runoff, while maintaining (or increasing) beach or wetland habitat (National Research Council, 2007)."
Source: Restore America's Estuary
Louisiana Coastal Resilience Game
"What does the future hold for culture, industry, and ecology along the coast of Louisiana? What can be done about it? The Louisiana Coastal Resilience Game allows participants to implement protective and restorative efforts of varying cost and estimated degrees of impact along Louisiana’s coastline and observe potential future outcomes under different policy and weather scenarios."
Source: University of Virginia
Oral Histories
"Whether caused by subsidence; hurricanes; or inexpensive, imported seafood, the culture and landscape of the coastal zone is changing, and in some cases, disappearing. It is imperative that traditional knowledge in these towns and villages be captured so that the memories of their custodians can be preserved for current and future generations. Visitors to this website will find unedited oral history audio recordings, as well as interview transcripts."
Source: Louisiana Sea Grant
Surging Seas
"Climate Central’s Program on Sea Level Rise strives to provide accurate, clear and granular information about sea level rise and coastal flood hazards both locally and globally, today and tomorrow. Anchored in rigorous primary research, our work distinguishes itself by its user-friendly maps and tools, extensive datasets, and high-quality visual presentation. The program dedicates its efforts to helping citizens, communities, businesses, organizations, and governments at every level to understand the consequences of different carbon pathways and to navigate the shifting waters of our warming world."
Source: Climate Central
Community Science Projects
ISeeChange
"ISeeChange is a global community that posts about what they notice changing in the environment using our platform and mobile tools. Each post is synced with weather and climate data and broadcast to the community to investigate bigger picture climate trends. Over time, community members can track how climate is changing, season to season, year to year, and understand the impacts on daily life."
Source: ISeeChange