Coastal Adaptation Toolkit
Selected resources, concentrating on coastal areas and watersheds, for practitioners and environmental professionals.
On this page:
- General interest
- National Climate Assessment
- How much change?
- What will the impacts be?
- What adaptation options are there?
- Planning frameworks
- Adaptation clearinghouses
- Information about funding
Some of the following links exit the site.
General interest
Climate change overviews
- Climate Change Overview from the US Global Change Research Program
- Climate Change: 20 Questions and Answers from the US National Academy of Sciences
Using information
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Using Information From Global Climate Models to Inform Policymaking from USGS. "This report provides an overview of model-based climate science in a risk management context."
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Selecting Climate Information to Use in Climate Risk and Impact Assessments from OSTP
National Climate Assessment
The U.S. Global Change Research Program develops the National Climate Assessment, which assesses the science of climate change and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century.
| Content | 5th National Climate Assessment (2023) | 4th National Climate Assessment (2018) |
|---|---|---|
| Main website | https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/ | https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/ |
| Coastal Effects | NCA5 Chapter 9 | NCA4 Chapter 8 |
| Oceans and Marine Resources | NCA5 Chapter 10 | NCA4 Chapter 9 |
| Water | NCA5 Chapter 4 | NCA4 Chapter 3 |
| Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity | NCA5 Chapter 8 | NCA4 Chapter 7 |
NCA4 Climate Science Special Report (2017)
How much change?
Change so far
- Climate Change Indicators in the United States
- NOAA State Climate Summaries has descriptions of historical climate conditions.
- Historical temperature and precipitation data by location
Dataset = Global Summary of the Year. Location type = State, then you will see available stations (note the periods of record). Add your station to the cart (there is no charge). View the cart. Select the output format and choose the dates range. Select Continue. Verify your order, enter your e-mail, and submit the order. It will take a few minutes (the more data in the order the longer it can take). Sample product: Atlantic City 1900–2020. - Sea Level Trends from NOAA
Future projections
- Temperature and precipitation for places in the U.S. (U.S. Global Change Research Program, CMIP5)
Explore interactive graphs and compare time-series maps showing climate projections and observations for any county in the contiguous United States. You can also explore historical temperature and precipitation observations at hundreds of climate stations, and view observed and projected days of high-tide flooding at more than 90 coastal tide-gauge stations. - Climate change and water information for HUC-4 and HUC-8 watersheds (USGS, CMIP6)
precipitation (inches/month), runoff (inches/month), snow (inches), soil storage (inches), evaporation deficit (inches/month) - Temperature and precipitation for worldwide land and ocean grid cells (IPCC, CMIP6)
The Interactive Atlas regional information supports the assessment done in the AR6-WGI chapters, the Technical Summary (TS) and the Summary for Policymakers (SPM), allowing for flexible temporal and spatial analyses of trends and changes in key atmospheric and oceanic variables, extreme indices and climatic impact-drivers, as obtained from several global and regional observational and model simulated datasets used in the report.
Future oceans
- Ocean information atlas for worldwide grid cells (IPCC, CMIP6)
Sea surface temperature, Sea ice concentration, Sea level rise, pH at surface - Sea surface temperature, sea surface pH, dissolved oxygen (pdf) from the 4th National Climate Assessment , Volume 1: see Table 13.1, Figure 13.3, Figure 13.5, and Figure 13.6
- Ocean pH and oxygen (Figure 5.8), from page 470 of Chapter 5 (pdf) in IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (2019)
- NASA/IPCC Sea Level Projection Tool
Sea level rise inundation viewers
- NOAA's Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts
- Surging Seas maps and tools from Climate Central
What will the impacts be for watersheds and coastal areas?
Climate Ready Estuaries resources
- Risk identification checklists, from Step 3 of the Being Prepared for Climate Change workbook
- Climate Change and Coastal Watersheds: Adaptation to Attain Clean Water Goals and Sustainable Coasts
USGCRP Synthesis and Assessment Products
- Coastal Sensitivity to Sea Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region. SAP 4.1, especially Parts I and II
- The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States. SAP 4.3
- Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources, Final Report. SAP 4.4
What adaptation options are there?
Climate Ready Estuaries resources
- Synthesis of Adaptation Options for Coastal Areas
- Actions That Could Reduce Water Temperature, Appendix F from the Being Prepared for Climate Change workbook
- Rolling Easements primer
- Gulf Coast Community Handbook: Case Studies from Gulf of Mexico Communities for Incorporating Climate Change Resiliency into Habitat Planning and Protection: A report to the US Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Ready Estuaries Program from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program
USGCRP Synthesis and Assessment Products
- Coastal Sensitivity to Sea Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region. SAP 4.1, especially Parts II and III
- Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resource, Final Report. SAP 4.4
Additional sources for adaptation actions
- NOAA Adapting to Climate Change: A Planning Guide for State Coastal Managers, pp. 46–96 (pdf)
- California Governor's Office of Emergency Services California Adaptation Planning Guide
- American Rivers and Natural Resources Defense Council Getting Climate Smart: A Water Preparedness Guide for State Action, pp. 65–99
- National Wildlife Federation Green Works for Climate Resilience: A Guide to Community Planning for Climate Change
Estimating monetary cost
- USACE (2021) South Atlantic Coastal Study, Measures & Cost Library Report (pdf)
- FHWA (2019) Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Highway Resilience: An Implementation Guide, Chapter 2 and Chapter 8
- Environmental Law Institute (2007) Mitigation of Impacts to Fish and Wildlife Habitat: Estimating Costs and Identifying Opportunities
Planning frameworks
Risk-based planning at the watershed or community scale
Conservation
- Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD)—A Framework for the 21st-century Natural Resource Manager
- Scanning the Conservation Horizon: A Guide to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment
- Climate-Smart Conservation: Putting Adaptation Principles Into Practice
Using expert judgment
- Vulnerability Assessments in Support of the Climate Ready Estuaries Program: A Novel Approach Using Expert Judgment, Volume I: Results for the San Francisco Estuary Partnership
- Vulnerability Assessments in Support of the Climate Ready Estuaries Program: A Novel Approach Using Expert Judgment, Volume II: Results for the Massachusetts Bays Program
Resilience
- NSTC's Resilience Science and Technology Grand Pathways Framework "The framework helps users identify, align, and prioritize science and technology solutions that use the process of resilience (anticipating, avoiding, adapting, withstanding, and building back better) to enhance the property of resilience of both cross-cutting enablers and key functions so that they effectively deliver the desired outcomes of societal resilience."
- GAO's Disaster Resilience Framework "This Framework provides a set of principles that can be applied to any federal effort—post-disaster, pre-disaster, and outside the traditional disaster preparedness and recovery domain—to help federal agencies and policymakers consider what kinds of actions to take if they seek to promote and facilitate disaster risk reduction."
Sector planning
Adaptation clearinghouses
- The Resilience and Adaptation in New England (RAINE) database
- EPA's Office of Research and Development: Climate Change Research
- U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (climate.gov)
- Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE)
- Georgetown Climate Center
Information about funding
There are many potential sources of funding for adaptation work; information about some of them can be found at the following sites.
- EPA ARC-X: Federal Funding and Technical Assistance for Climate Adaptation
- EPA: Green Infrastructure Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities
- EPA: Water Finance Clearinghouse
- US Climate Resilience Toolkit: Funding Opportunities
- NOAA Funding Opportunities
- FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants