Coastal hardening and what it means for the world's sandy beaches.

Sea level rise is expected to cause chronic shoreline retreat, affecting over 10% of the world's population in low-elevation coastal zones (LECZ). Sandy beaches supported by man-made structures are more vulnerable to substantial beach area loss due to restricted landward migration, affecting ecosystem services. However, the global extent of 'hardened' sandy coastlines at risk of 'severe beach loss' has not been comprehensively quantified.

Future losses of ecosystem services due to coastal erosion in Europe.

Coastal erosion is a major issue facing Europe that will only worsen under future climate change and the resulting sea level rise. One effect of erosion is the loss of ecosystem services, which are provided by coastal areas, such as provisioning, regulating, habitat, and cultural services. These services can be quantified in monetary terms.

More meteorological events that drive compound coastal flooding are projected under climate change.

Compound flooding arises from storms causing concurrent extreme meteorological tides (that is the superposition of storm surge and waves) and precipitation. This flooding can severely affect densely populated low-lying coastal areas. Here, combining output from climate and ocean models, we analyse the concurrence probability of the meteorological conditions driving compound flooding.

Uncertainties in projections of sandy beach erosion due to sea level rise: an analysis at the European scale.

Sea level rise (SLR) will cause shoreline retreat of sandy coasts in the absence of sand supply mechanisms. These coasts have high touristic and ecological value and provide protection of valuable infrastructures and buildings to storm impacts. So far, large-scale assessments of shoreline retreat use specific datasets or assumptions for the geophysical representation of the coastal system, without any quantification of the effect that these choices might have on the assessment.

Economic motivation for raising coastal flood defenses in Europe.

Extreme sea levels (ESLs) in Europe could rise by as much as one metre or more by the end of this century due to climate change. This poses significant challenges to safeguard coastal communities. Here we present a comprehensive analysis of economically efficient protection scenarios along Europe's coastlines during the present century.

Global long-term observations of coastal erosion and accretion.

Changes in coastal morphology have broad consequences for the sustainability of coastal communities, structures and ecosystems. Although coasts are monitored locally in many places, understanding long-term changes at a global scale remains a challenge. Here we present a global and consistent evaluation of coastal morphodynamics over 32 years (1984-2015) based on satellite observations.

Global probabilistic projections of extreme sea levels show intensification of coastal flood hazard.

Global warming is expected to drive increasing extreme sea levels (ESLs) and flood risk along the world's coastlines. In this work we present probabilistic projections of ESLs for the present century taking into consideration changes in mean sea level, tides, wind-waves, and storm surges. Between the year 2000 and 2100 we project a very likely increase of the global average 100-year ESL of 34-76 cm under a moderate-emission-mitigation-policy scenario and of 58-172 cm under a business as usual scenario.