With the changing climate, our coasts are increasingly susceptible to the consequences of sea level rise and other stressors, such as storms, erosion, and flooding. Planning for coastal change helps managers develop and implement adaptation strategies to reduce the risks of climate change impacts affecting their coasts.
The U.S. Geological Survey, led by Dr. Patrick Barnard and Dr. Li Erickson, developed the Coastal Storms Modeling System, or CoSMoS. CoSMoS is a region-specific numerical modeling system that will project coastal flooding and erosion driven by climate change, not only from sea level rise (SLR) but from future storms as well. The full suite of CoSMoS results and data are free of charge and publicly accessible through the mapping tool at Our Coast, Our Future. Results may also be viewed and downloaded at this link. View the CoSMoS Fact Sheet.
USC Sea Grant received funding from the California Coastal Conservancy to provide technical assistance and outreach on the CoSMoS model for the Southern California region and to help build capacity in coastal communities as they begin to plan for impacts from sea level rise.
USC Sea Grant, in partnership with local organizations, has held workshops in the Southern California sub-regions of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange and San Diego counties to provide an introduction to the CoSMoS model. This was accompanied by a capacity-building and educational webinar series as the model was developed and final results were released. Workshops in 2017 shared final model results, translated model findings and provided technical assistance. USC Sea Grant continues to produce a professional development webinar series through its AdaptLA Program to provide subject-specific information and training that will help advance sea level rise and coastal impacts planning in L.A. and Southern California. View materials from the workshops below.
Learn more about the history of CoSMoS development here. View USGS FAQs page for CoSMoS 3.0.
Meetings and Webinars
View a complete list of AdaptLA workshops and webinars.
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Date Held: February 22, 2017
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Date Held: April 14, 2015
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Date Held: February 23, 2015
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Date Held: October 30, 2014
Links
- USGS CoSMoS FAQs
- Herzog and Hecht legal study “Combating Sea Level Rise in Southern California”
- PDF: Sea Level Rise – Visualizing the Science
- Modeling Flooding: Coastal flood projections and socioeconomic impacts due to sea level rise and storms for the State’s North Coastline Modeling Flooding (Funded Research Project)
