| Session Details | |
| Section | OS - Ocean Sciences |
| Session Title | Storm Surges and Wind Waves in a Changing Climate |
| Main Convener | Prof. Alexander Babanin (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. Pavel Tkalich (National University of Singapore, Singapore) Dr. Vethamony P (National Institute of Oceanography, India) Dr. Kathleen McInnes (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia) Dr. Georg Umgiesser (Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Italy) |
| Session Description | Conveners: Alexander Babanin1, Pavel Tkalich2, P.Vethamony3, Kathleen L. McInnes4, Georg Umgiesser5 1Swinburne University of Technology, Australia 2National University of Singapore, Singapore 3National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India 4CSIRO, Marine and Atmospheric Research, Australia 5Institute of Marine Sciences, Italy Many coastal regions of the world are vulnerable to the potentially tragic consequences of storm surges, wind waves, erosion and associated coastal inundation, sometimes worsened by adjacent riverine flooding. Low-latitude coastlines are particularly affected by tropical cyclones and include countries facing the north Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the US Gulf and Atlantic coasts, northern Australia and islands in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Notable recent examples of cyclones that produced devastating storm surges and loss of life and livelihoods include Sidr in 2007 and Nargis in 2008 that affected Bangladesh and Myanmar respectively and Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2012 in the US. Low pressure systems in the mid and high latitudes also cause adverse coastal conditions in many parts of the world. In December 2008, a strong low pressure system that passed through Europe triggered flooding in Venice due to high levels of river run-off into the surrounding lagoon. Recent IPCC assessments indicate that climate change may bring about regionally specific changes to the behaviour of storm systems and that these changes will not be uniform across different regions of the world. For example, the most intense tropical cyclones are projected to increase in intensity while the overall number of tropical cyclones may decrease overall. Storms tracks in the mid-latitudes are projected to contract poleward. The challenge for climate change and associated extreme events modelling is to determine whether the observed change in the atmosphere-ocean-coast activity (storm surges and waves) exceeds the variability that is expected through natural causes. Recent research with analysis of wave data from different sources of past few decades clearly depicts how wave heights are progressively increasing within different climate-change scenarios. We depend on a combination of observational, theoretical and modelling studies to assess the future climate change with reference to the extreme events. It is expected that the proposed session will bring together international professionals interested in measuring, modeling and forecasting of storm surges and wind waves. |