A new study from the UNSW Water Research Lab has shown that extreme weather events could help buffer beaches from the impact of sea-level rise – by bringing in new sand from deeper waters or from nearby beaches.
The sea has been rising and falling for eons, but there is compelling evidence that carbon emissions from human activity is speeding the process along.
UNSW's Professor John Church, the world's pre-eminent expert in sea level rise, is the first Australian awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change.
With global sea levels set to rise by up to a metre by 2100, there is much to be learnt from past changes to the coastline and how humans responded to dramatic increases in sea level.
A jump in global average temperatures of 1.5°C–2°C will see the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves and lead to hundreds and even thousands of years of sea level rise, according to new research published in Nature.
