IGF::OT::IGF NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD. REGIONAL SEA LEVEL REFLECTS OCEANIC HEAT, MASS, AND FRESHWAT…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD. REGIONAL SEA LEVEL REFLECTS OCEANIC HEAT, MASS, AND FRESHWATER CONTENT INTEGRATED OVER THE WATER COLUMN, AND IS THUS AN INFORMATIVE INDEX OF OCEAN CIRCULATION AND CLIMATE. SEA LEVEL RISE (SLR) IS ALSO A SIGNIFICANT RISK TO COASTAL COMMUNITIES AND ECOSYSTEMS -- THROUGH, FOR EXAMPLE, INUNDATION, FLOODING, EROSION, AND SALTWATER INTRUSION. THIS RISK IS GEOGRAPHICALLY VARIABLE, AS BOTH THE RATE OF SLR AND SOCIOECONOMIC EXPOSURE VARY WITH LOCATION. BECAUSE REGIONAL SEA LEVEL IS A VALUABLE TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING AND MONITORING CLIMATE, AND BECAUSE OF ITS ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS, MANY RECENT GOVERNMENT REPORTS HAVE UNDERSCORED THE NEED FOR A STANDARDIZED SET OF REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS. HOWEVER, THE OPTIMAL NUMBER AND SPATIAL SCALE OF SUCH INDICATORS, AND THUS THE INFORMATION BEST USED TO MONITOR AND PROJECT THEM, REMAINS UNCLEAR. FURTHERMORE, THE UNDERLYING GAP BETWEEN REGIONAL AND COASTAL SEA LEVEL VARIABILITY CLOUDS THE RELEVANCE OF REGIONAL INDICATORS TO LOCAL DECISION-MAKING. THIS EFFORT WILL IMPROVE THE UTILITY OF REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS BY: 1) OBJECTIVELY DEFINING THE NUMBER OF INDICATORS, AND THEIR SPATIAL SCALE, USING ALTIMETER AND CLIMATE MODEL OUTPUT; AND 2) RELATING REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS TO LOCAL SEA LEVEL AT COASTAL SITES, USING ALTIMETER AND TIDE GAUGE OBSERVATIONS. THIS TWO-PRONG APPROACH WILL PROVIDE: THE OPTIMAL SPATIAL SCALES AT WHICH TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL AND INTERPRET CLIMATE MODEL PROJECTIONS, MAXIMAL USE OF NASA DATA IN REGIONAL SEA LEVEL INDICATORS, A MEANS TO CAPTURE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEA LEVEL AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS, AND AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE COHERENT SCALES OF SEA LEVEL VARIABILITY IN OBSERVATIONS AND CLIMATE MODELS.