Sea levels are rising with the highest rates in the tropics where thousands of low-lying coral atoll islands are located. Most studies on the resilience of these islands to sea level rise have projected that they will experience minimal inundation impacts until at least the end of the 21st century.

However, these historical estimates have not considered the additional hazard of wave driven overwash or its impact on freshwater availability. How will this latest research impact installations and populations ‘beyond the fence’?

JSOU Professor Peter Cloutier interview Dr. Curt Storlazzi, Dr. Patrick Barnard, and Ms. Andy O’Neill who have studied the impact of sea level rise and wave driven flooding on infrastructure and freshwater availability under a variety of climate change scenarios. They've shown that the nonlinear interactions between sea level rise and wave dynamics over reefs will lead to the annual wave driven overwash of most atoll islands by the mid-21st century. This annual flooding will result in the islands becoming uninhabitable because of frequent damaged infrastructure and the inability of their freshwater aquifers to recover between overwash events.

More about the presenters:
https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/c...
https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/p...
https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/a...

Recommended Reading:
https://www.usgs.gov/news/pacific-mis...
https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-ne...
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pcmsc/sc...

For more information follow us on our website and social media platforms.

Website: https://jsou.edu/
LinkedIn:   / thinkjsou  
Twitter:   / thinkjsou  
Facebook:   / thinkjsou  
YouTube:    / @thinkjsou  
Instagram:   / thinkjsou  

The views expressed in this video are entirely those of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, policy, or position of the United States Government, Department of Defense, United States Special Operations Command, or the Joint Special Operations University.