About this Research Topic
As sea level rises, coastal zones are increasingly affected by coastal hazards such as chronic submergence, flooding during extreme events, shoreline erosion, salinization and wetland change. The special report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published in 2019 has reminded us that we are committed to sea level rise over the coming decades and centuries due to anthropogenic climate warming. There are significant reasons to be concerned because many infrastructures and settlements are located in low-lying or vulnerable coastal zones. However, information and climate services supporting adaptation to sea-level rise remain fragmented, as shown by the assessment of the Grand Challenge on Regional Sea Level Change and Coastal Impacts of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) (https://www.wcrp-climate.org/gc-sea-level). Hence, there is a need to share experience and feedback from various ongoing initiatives in order to accelerate the development of climate services specifically supporting adaptation to sea-level rise.
This Research Topic aims to assess the current status of climate services supporting adaptation to sea-level rise. These services are developing in very different ways depending on the country or sector considered, and a number of projects are currently developing coastal climate services in different countries and regions (e.g. USA, Australia, Europe - Copernicus, ERA4CS…). Some of these projects have focused on research in the field of sea level, coastal and adaptation science, whereas others have addressed cross-cutting research in the area of user interactions, decision making, propagation of uncertainties and service architecture design. Hence, there is a need to assess how this research meets the challenges posed by sea-level rise and how it is being transferred to operations, while reflecting the diversity of current approaches.
The Research Topic will gather research articles addressing new developments in the area of climate services for coastal adaptation. This includes case studies addressing at least one of the following aspects:
· Assessment of the current status of coastal climate services for adaptation to sea-level rise
· Identification and mapping of users and stakeholders (e.g., critical infrastructures or settlements, insurance, land use planning, adaptation finance)
· Identification and analysis of needs for observation, modeling, expertise, training and education
· Approaches to translate sea-level science to operations
· Representation, propagation or communication of uncertainties
· Frameworks for climate services supporting adaptation to sea-level rise
This Research Topic aims to assess the current status of climate services supporting adaptation to sea-level rise. These services are developing in very different ways depending on the country or sector considered, and a number of projects are currently developing coastal climate services in different countries and regions (e.g. USA, Australia, Europe - Copernicus, ERA4CS…). Some of these projects have focused on research in the field of sea level, coastal and adaptation science, whereas others have addressed cross-cutting research in the area of user interactions, decision making, propagation of uncertainties and service architecture design. Hence, there is a need to assess how this research meets the challenges posed by sea-level rise and how it is being transferred to operations, while reflecting the diversity of current approaches.
The Research Topic will gather research articles addressing new developments in the area of climate services for coastal adaptation. This includes case studies addressing at least one of the following aspects:
· Assessment of the current status of coastal climate services for adaptation to sea-level rise
· Identification and mapping of users and stakeholders (e.g., critical infrastructures or settlements, insurance, land use planning, adaptation finance)
· Identification and analysis of needs for observation, modeling, expertise, training and education
· Approaches to translate sea-level science to operations
· Representation, propagation or communication of uncertainties
· Frameworks for climate services supporting adaptation to sea-level rise
Keywords: sea-level rise, adaptation, climate services, coastal hazards, uncertainties
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
