Melina Bennett
Paper Topic Outline
09.26.16
Topic: Increased coastal erosion due to rising sea levels
Source:
Hinkel, J., R. J. Nicholls, R. S. J. Tol, Z. B. Wang, J. M. Hamilton, G. Boot, A. T. Vafeidis, L. McFadden,
A. Ganopolski, and R. J. T. Klein (2013), A global analysis of erosion of sandy beaches and sealevel rise: An application of DIVA, Global and Planetary Change, 111, 150–158,
doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2013.09.002.
 This source only looks at sandy beaches
Intro
 There is a natural, seasonal change in erosion and deposition of sediment on
sandy beaches
 Lack of sediment supply can cause long term erosion of beaches
 Lack of sediment supply can be caused by human interference and rising sea
levels
Methods
 The DIVA model; a model that forecasts coastal erosion, coastal flooding, etc.
due to rising sea levels
 Direct erosion rates estimated by the Bruun Rule
 Indirect erosion estimated by ASMITA
Results1
 Models looking and the rate of sea level rise and climate sensitivity predict that
by the year 2100 up to 242 km2 of land will be lost annually due to erosion
 Land lost could cost the US up to 1.82 million dollars
 People and businesses living/located on or near coastal areas will have to
relocate
Discussion1
 Small island communities will be increasingly affected by erosion more so than
communities located major continents
 Tourism is a large factor in coastal erosion when it comes to the demand of
artificial beach nourishment
Conclusion
 Restate main points on how coastal erosion is assessed based on the setting of
the beach
 Restate the factors that go into erosion rates, e.g. sediment characteristics (size
& type) and wave energy.

Briefly explain why this is an important topic
Questions I have and would potentially like to answer in this paper:
1. What is the main factor in the determination of the magnitude of beach erosion?
Is it sediment type, wave energy or a combination?
These results and discussion are from [Hinkel et al., 2013]; in my paper I will focus mostly
on the sediment and will utilize other papers.
1

This could potentially be moved to the discussion section.
Melina Bennett
Paper Topic Outline
09.26.16
2. What happens to the sediment once they have been eroded? Are they
transported offshore and deposited on the continental shelf? Or are they
transported to a different coastal location?
3. Can beach nourishment save small island communities? Or would it be more
cost effective/easier to relocate these communities. Ethical considerations could
be a paper on it’s own.
Other potential sources:
Callaghan, D. P., and D. Wainwright (2013), The impact of various methods of wave transfers from deep
water to nearshore when determining extreme beach erosion, Coastal Engineering, 74, 50–58,
doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2012.12.001.
Chu, M. L., J. A. Guzman, R. Muñoz-Carpena, G. A. Kiker, and I. Linkov (2014), A simplified approach
for simulating changes in beach habitat due to the combined effects of long-term sea level rise,
storm erosion, and nourishment, Environmental Modelling & Software, 52, 111–120,
doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.10.020.
Romine, B. M., C. H. Fletcher, M. M. Barbee, T. R. Anderson, and L. N. Frazer (2013), Are beach
erosion rates and sea-level rise related in Hawaii?, Global and Planetary Change, 108, 149–157,
doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2013.06.009.
Theuerkauf, E. J., A. B. Rodriguez, S. R. Fegley, and R. A. Luettich (2014), Sea level anomalies
exacerbate
beach
erosion,
Geophys.
Res.
Lett.,
41(14),
2014GL060544,
doi:10.1002/2014GL060544.
Walkden, M., and M. Dickson (2008), Equilibrium erosion of soft rock shores with a shallow or absent
beach
under
increased
sea
level
rise,
Marine
Geology,
251(1–2),
75–84,
doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.02.003.