Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment

The draft report of the the Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment, discussed in the previous post, can be downloaded from the UW Climate Impacts Group’s website here. Note that the author of chapter 11 of the report is Lara Whitely Binder, who will be one of the speakers at our Sustainable Edmonds meeting on February 22, 2009.

If you’d like to  do some reading in advance of the meeting,  take a look  especially at chapter 8, “Coasts” by Daniel Huppert et al.  (available on the same web page).  Here is the abstract of this chapter:

Physical changes caused by climate change on the Washington coast include: (a) inundation of
low-lying areas by high tides as sea level rises; (b) flooding of coasts during major storm events,
especially near river mouths; (c) accelerated erosion of coastal bluffs; (d) landward retreat of
beach profiles, moving the position of the Mean High Water line landward; (e) saltwater
intrusion into coastal freshwater aquifers; and (f) increased ocean temperature and acidity.
Similar physical forces will be working everywhere, but shore areas will respond differently
depending upon substrate (sand versus bedrock), slope (shallow versus steep cliffs), and the
surrounding conditions (exposed versus sheltered from storms). We expect substantial impacts
on coastal systems from bluff erosion, shifting beach berms, shoreline armoring, and inundation
of coastal lands. Further, increased ocean temperatures and acidity will negatively impact
shellfish aquaculture. As beaches adjust to sea level rise, coastal property lines and intertidal
aquaculture leases will need to be carefully defined through modified property laws. We
anticipate relatively minor impacts on coastal freshwater aquifers. Additional research is needed
to develop a more comprehensive assessment of climate impacts on all coastal features in the
state.