Coasts

Antarctica. Credit: Ceridwen Fraser An increase in pockets of open water in Antarctica's sea ice (polynyas) may mean coastal plants and animals could one day establish on the continent, University of Otago-led research suggests. The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, aimed at understanding where open water might…

This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.When governments find themselves fighting the threat of coastal erosion, their default response tends to be pretty simple: If sand is disappearing from a beach, they pump in more sand to replace it. This strategy, known as “beach nourishment,” has become a cornerstone of coastal defenses around the world, complementing hard structures like sea walls. North Carolina, for instance, has dumped more than 100 million tons of sand onto its…

Researchers have documented a dramatic decrease in creekbank and marsh edge erosion, up to 90%, in the Elkhorn Slough of Monterey County, attributable to the restored sea otter population. A sea otter in the estuarine water of Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay, California, USA. Credit: Killiii YuyanThe reintroduction of sea otters in Central California significantly slows erosion, offering a promising, low-cost approach to coastal ecosystem conservation.In a groundbreaking study published today in Nature, scientists reveal…

The Aya story began two decades ago, when Marguerite Abouet, a Parisian legal assistant with roots in Ivory Coast, got together with Clément Oubrerie, an animator and children’s book illustrator, to produce a graphic novel inspired by her African childhood. That book eventually became a bestselling series, one loved and acclaimed for its vivid portrayal of life in Ivory Coast in the 1970s, a period during which the country experienced an economic boom. Since translated into 15 languages, it made both Abouet and her…

Cyclone Idai raged along the southeast African coast in March 2019. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory People living on the in low-lying coastal areas will be at even greater risk from cyclones in the future. Natural ecosystems offer protection, but this protection has decreased in recent years and is expected to continue to decline. This is a finding of a model study by an international team of researchers led by ETH Zurich.…

While sharks on cocaine sounds like a clumsy Jaws-Scarface crossover, some researchers say the idea may not be as wacky as it sounds—especially in the waters off Florida. There sharks in a diverse assemblage swim along a major drug-smuggling throughway, which potentially exposes the toothy predators to floating bundles of narcotics. “This is the only place in the world where a shark could come into contact with such massive doses of cocaine,” says Tom Hird, a marine biologist and broadcaster based in England. Hird…

CLIMATEWIRE | Wildfires are still raging in eastern Canada, even as much of their smoke has dissipated from the northeastern United States. And as long as those fires continue burning, there's a risk the smoke “may simply be directed towards other areas of the U.S.," according to the National Weather Service. The episode is a wake-up call for the East Coast, which has far less experience with wildfire smoke than the highly flammable West. Shrouded in haze, places like New York and Washington, D.C., experienced their…

From the original publication: Shown is the percentage of EU coastal states (plus Bosnia and Herzegovina, United Kingdom, and Norway) of (a) urban areas in the extended low-lying coastal zone (E-LECZ, coast below 20m elevation; based on CORINE2012 dataset), and (b) total country-specific E-LECZ area (based on MERIT dataset). The darker colors indicate higher percentages. Countries shaded in gray are not included in the study. Credit: Kiel University…

Vertical land motion (VLM) across the US Atlantic coast. a Estimated VLM rate. The circles show the location of GNSS validation observations color-coded with their respective vertical velocities. b Histogram comparing GNSS vertical rates with estimated VLM rates. The standard deviation (SD) of the difference between the two datasets is 1.3 mm per year. c Land subsidence (representing negative VLM) across the US Atlantic Coast. The black rectangles…

A new study led by scientists at Tulane University reveals that sea levels along the U.S. Southeast and Gulf coasts have rapidly accelerated over the past 12 years, reaching record-breaking rates of about half an inch per year since 2010. The acceleration is attributed to the compounding effects of man-made climate change and natural climate variability. The acceleration extends from the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina and into the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Seas, affecting the…