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Photo by: Mitch Miller

Chapter 7 – How Sea Level Rise is Changing Shorelines

Canada has, by far, the longest coastlines in the world . Yet, our shores are at risk . As sea
levels rise, communities are becoming more exposed to flooding, storm surge, erosion
and saltwater intrusion . The financial implications of sea level rise in combination with
extreme weather events are huge and are already being felt by a growing number of
homeowners and communities across British Columbia . Equally significant are the
ecological and social implications .

Sea Level Rise
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- Changing ocean volume, due to climate change,
tration (NOAA 2017) projects global sea level rise can be combined with estimates of local uplift
will be between 30 cm and 2 .5 m by 2100 . This along the coastline (due to geologic forces) to
wide range is mainly due to the uncertainty in the yield projections of relative sea level rise . Over the
response of the massive Greenland and Antarctic last century, certain portions of the British Colum-
ice sheet disintegration to regional warming across bian coast have had a rise in average sea level,
a variety of future emissions scenarios . The impacts while in some areas the sea level has fallen due to
of rising sea levels are anticipated to vary markedly land uplift (tectonics and post-glacial rebound) .
among coastlines due to local topography, currents, For example, the west coast of Vancouver Island
geological processes such as tectonic activity and is being uplifted by tectonic forces faster than sea
post-glacial adjustment . Modelling of the low to level rise, with the result that local sea levels are
intermediate emissions scenarios, suggest that appearing to fall .
much of the Pacific Northwest will experience less
sea level rise than the global average (NOAA 2017) .

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