Sea Level Rise

Assignment What U.S. Cities Will be Lost to Sea Level Rise

Goals:
• Identify the factors that contribute to sea level rise
• Increase awareness of the global and local threat of sea level rise
• Identify which locations/cities are most at risk to rising sea level
• Research and propose possible mitigations and/or solutions to rising sea level

Procedure:
Use the Surging Seas “Risk Finder” and “Risk Zone Map”
(https://riskfinder.climatecentral.org/) tools to find the following information for a
U.S. city in your assigned geographic region and answer the questions below.

If your LAST NAME starts with:
A-I choose an east coast city in the U.S. J-R choose a west coast city in the U.S. S-Z choose a Gulf coast city

1. (2 pts.) What city did you choose? Explain why you picked that city.

Type the name of the city you picked into the search window of the Surging Seas Risk Finder website. Read the “Summary” for the city and then scroll down to view the “When Are the Risks” bar chart.

2. (2 pts.) Assuming a “Medium” sea level rise scenario (make sure “Medium” is selected in the “Sea level scenario” at right of the bar chart), in what year and at what water level (in feet and meters) will there be 100% multi-year likelihood risk of flooding in the city you chose? Recall that there are 3.3 feet in 1 meter.

Continue to scroll down to view “What Is at Risk” to answer the following questions.

3. (3 pts.) How many people live below the 100% likelihood flooding water line in the city you chose? Are any types of neighborhoods or ethnic populations impacted disproportionately by the flooding?
4. (3 pts.) What types of buildings and infrastructure are at risk in the flooding scenario for the city you chose? What is the dollar value associated with the buildings and infrastructure that will be impacted?
5. (3 pts.) Use the “how to reduce risks” link under the Risk Finder “Summary” to find how the city or state is/are preparing for the predicted sea level rise of the city you chose. Describe one specific action that is planned or being taken to prepare for rising sea level.
6. (2 pts.) What is your assessment of this city’s sea level rise preparedness?
   Provide at least one reason for your assessment.