Climate change, sea-level rise and shoreline retreat

Global climate is changing and has been driven in large part over the past century by the increasing anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases. As the Earth's atmosphere has warmed, ice sheets and glaciers have melted and retreated, and combined with a warming ocean, have accelerated the rate of sea-level rise. The impacts of a rising sea level include coastal flooding and inundation and increased rates of shoreline retreat and coastal erosion. Projections for 2100 are for three feet of sea-level rise, which will impact about 200 million people around the planet, and most of the world's largest cities. The coast of California is already feeling the impact of both short and long-term sea level rise.

Speaker: Gary Griggs, UC Santa Cruz