coasts

Critical Needs: Ocean & Coasts

To ensure the long-term sustainable use of our ocean and coastal resources:

Support basic and applied research on ocean and coastal issues. Better knowledge of the ocean and its role in global processes now and in the past allows scientists to forecast for the future. An improved understanding of ocean and coastal processes will reduce damage and promote responsible growth of coastal communities.

Interactive map of shoreline change rates in Texas

The University of Texas' interactive map of Texas Gulf shoreline change rates is an initiative of the The Texas Shoreline Change Project. The map utilizes a colored scale to indicate the magnitude of shoreline change from the 1930s to 2012, with the option to view changes since the 1930s, 1950s, or 2000.

Click here to access the Texas Gulf shoreline change rate interactive map

Source: Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas

EARTH Magazine: Tsunamis from the Sky

The Great Lakes, along with the Mediterranean, Japan and many other parts of the world, have a long history of such waves, which have characteristics similar to tsunamis triggered by earthquakes or landslides. Only recently, however, have scientists unraveled how a storm can create and propagate these far-traveling waves — called meteorological tsunamis or meteotsunamis. The waves, which arise out of a complex interplay of storm speed, wave dynamics and ocean-bottom bathymetry, may be less common than seismic tsunamis, but they can still be destructive and deadly.

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