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Coastal Vulnerability: An integrated framework for first order assessment of the risk of estuaries to climate change in the east cost NRM cluster
The aim was to develop a framework for undertaking first order assessment of climate change impacts on estuary geomorphology in the east coast NRM.
The volume of sediment that an estuary can potentially hold is commonly termed ‘accommodation space’. The total accommodation space is dependent upon the shape of the bedrock valley and the elevation of hydrological influence, which equates to highest astronomical tide and correlates with mean sea level. Deeper valleys have more accommodation space than shallow valleys; broad valleys have more accommodation space than narrow valleys
Methods:
•Develop a geomorphic framework of the Holocene response of estuaries to sea-level rise.
•Integrate the geomorphic framework with a framework for vulnerability assessments to capture the geomorphic vulnerability of estuaries to future sea-level rise.
•Identify spatial datasets that could be applied within the framework for a first order vulnerability assessment.