Science Needs for Sea-Level Adaptation Planning: Comparisons among Three U.S. Atlantic Coastal Regions

Abstract

To identify priority information needs for sea-level rise planning, we conducted workshops in Florida, North Carolina, and Massachusetts in the summer of 2012. Attendees represented professionals from five stakeholder groups: federal and state governments, local governments, universities, businesses, and nongovernmental organizations. Over 100 people attended and 96 participated in breakout groups. Text analysis was used to organize and extract most frequently occurring content from 16 total breakout groups. The most frequent key words/phrases were identified among priority topics within five themes: analytic tools, communications, land use, ecosystem management, and economics. Diverse technical and communication tools were identified to help effectively plan for change. In many communities, planning has not formally begun. Attendees sought advanced prediction tools yet simple messaging for decision-makers facing politically challenging planning questions. High frequency key words/phrases involved fine spatial scales and temporal scales of less than 50 years. Many needs involved communications and the phrase "simple messaging" appeared with the highest frequency. There was some evidence of geographic variation among regions. North Carolina breakout groups had a higher frequency of key words/phrases involving land use. The results reflect challenges and tractable opportunities for planning beyond current, geophysically brief, time scales (e.g., election cycles and mortgage periods).

Communicating with Coastal Decision-Makers and Environmental Educators via Sea Level Rise Decision-Support Tools

“…Regarding the latter, participants preferred tools that included details in predicting SLR impacts at the "parcel-level" (i.e., individual tract of land) to guide community planners in infrastructure-related decision making. These results also demonstrate desire for accurate data and indicate credibility is crucial in these stakeholders' perceptions of information fit [Addison et al, 2013;Lindeman et al, 2015]. Further, the reported needs for local data suggest salience is also key in these stakeholders' perceptions of information fit for decision-making.…”

Coastal decision‐makers’ perspectives on updating storm surge guidance tools

“…Computational models and visualization tools can support decision‐making in several contexts and timescales, ranging from impending threats of storm surge (Morrow et al, 2015) to long‐term coastal planning for coastal flooding (Kuser Olsen et al, 2018) and sea‐level rise (SLR) (Lindeman et al, 2015). For an imminent threat, storm surge guidance and visualization tools follow the initial detection of a potential hazard (eg hurricane) and support the awareness (sense‐making) of potential future flood hazards to decision‐makers (Kolen & Helsloot, 2012).…”

Coastal Climate Adaptation Literatures of the Southeast and Northeast U.S.: Regional Comparisons among States and Document Sources

“…A still growing number of citizens in Florida and the Carolinas live in coastal counties, with similar patterns in the northeast U.S. (NOAA, 2013). There are several opportunities to compare climate adaptation across separate regions of the eastern U.S. [12,38] with applications to governance at all scales.…”