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Assess risks and impacts

Coastal processes

Coast and climate dynamics >

Coastal development on soft sediments or low-lying areas near the shoreline is at risk of damage from inundation and erosion.

Estuaries and
climate change >

Estuaries are dynamic systems constantly adjusting to change. Future changes in the climate, however, have the potential to alter estuarine systems beyond their current variability.

Waves, water levels
and climate change >

The waves most readily observed at the coast are those generated by the wind. Wind waves observed at a particular location are either sea or swell.

Data sources on
inundation and erosion >

National mapping and visualisation products are available that can contribute to the assessment of coastal risk under climate change. Most of these products are directly available from CoastAdapt.

Sediment compartments
and coastal management >

Understanding the broader regional geomorphological context is useful for coastal management planning and decision-making in many places.

Understanding the impacts

Overview of impacts >

Australian coastal zones are likely to experience the full range of direct and indirect climate change impacts.

Ocean acidification >

Oceans absorb a substantial proportion of the CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere by human activities, with potential negative effects on shell-forming organisms.

Coastal groundwater >

Groundwater is hard to see, expensive to measure, difficult to understand and challenging to simulate. This document provides an introduction to groundwater and a discussion of the possible range of groundwater related climate change impacts.

Cyclones and
East Coast Lows >

Tropical cyclones and East Coast Lows are projected to become less frequent as a result of climate change but those tropical cyclones that do occur are expected to be more intense, and may track further south.

Impacts by sector >

CoastAdapt provides 13 short reports that highlight potential climate change impacts on different goods, services and sectors in the coastal zone. These Impacts Sheets are intended to help coastal practitioners and decision makers understand the potential...

Risk assessment

Local-scale
risk assessment >

Identifying climate change risk at a local scale is an important step in planning for adaptation. CoastAdapt provides guidance and tools for conducting different types of risk assessment.

Guidance
on risk assessment >

To support different goals, data and resource availability, CoastAdapt provides a three-level risk assessment process (of increasing depth and resource requirements) with guidelines and tools.

Rules of thumb >

A good rule of thumb provides a quick method to evaluate hazards such as beach erosion but, where a risk is identified, should be followed by more rigorous methods of analysis.

Risk assessment
templates >

CoastAdapt provides three risk assessment templates that allow users to systematically follow the guidelines for assessing climate change risks, and record relevant information gathered at each step of a risk assessment.

Modelling tools
for risk assessment >

Models can be used to evaluate the risk of inundation and erosion along the coast, both now and in the future. However, many models are resource intensive, and external expertise may be required.

Data
for risk assessment >

This content provides information on data and visualization sites that are available outside CoastAdapt and that can be drawn on in risk assessments.

Quick guide to
hazard mapping >

This guide provides a quick overview to determine whether a mapping product is fit for purpose, understand the limitations of available mapping products, and determine when a more detailed assessment and mapping approach might be required.