February 23, 2015 | University of California, Irvine, Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering
The Orange County Regional Sea Level Rise and Coastal Impacts Meeting, held in Irvine on February 23, 2015, was attended by over 50 representatives from the Coastal Conservancy, County of Orange, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Dana Point, Orange County Parks, OC Coastkeeper, UC Irvine, and many others. This workshop provided information on sea level rise models and planning tools, training on vulnerability assessments and adaptive management planning, and provided a venue to discuss opportunities for collaboration in the region.
Scientific models are always improving, so management plans must be developed to adapt when new scientific information is available. A main theme that emerged from the workshop is the importance of modeling the risks of sea level rise and other coastal impacts at the local level. The USGS’s Coastal Storms Modeling System, CoSMoS 3.0, is currently being developed for the Southern California region. The model will project shoreline change, erosion, and flooding resulting from increased sea level rise, storm surge, and river discharge. Cities and municipalities will be able to access this information next year.
The workshop also served as a forum to build capacity and discuss the current state of climate change collaboration among cities, agencies, industry, and nonprofit organizations within Orange County. Several ongoing projects were discussed, including the FloodRISE project at UC Irvine, US Fish Wildlife’s salt marsh sediment augmentation project in Seal Beach, and a project to consider sea level rise in coastal wetland restoration projects. Workshop participants expressed a strong interest in increasing information sharing and collaboration within the region. Taking steps to increase communication, and share management plans and lessons learned between cities in the region will help support decision-making and ensure that the best available science is applied when planning for the impacts of climate change.
This workshop was held in partnership with UC Irvine through its Sustainability Initiative and FloodRISE project, the County of Orange, and the California Coastal Conservancy.
Presentations and Materials
- Workshop Agenda
- Welcome & Introductions Presentation, Phyllis Grifman, USC Sea Grant
- Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) 101 & Comparison of Sea Level Rise Tools & Modeling, Juliette Hart, USC Sea Grant
- Seal Beach NWR Salt Marsh Sediment Augmentation Project, Kirk Gilligan, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
- Consideration of SLR on Restoration Strategies for Southern California Coastal Wetlands, Steve Steinberg, SCCWRP
- Adaptive Adaptation Process & Assessing Vulnerabilities to SLR, Alyssa Newton Mann, USC Sea Grant
