Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Exposure of developing countries to sea-level rise and storm surges

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 21 April 2011

Abstract

An increase in sea surface temperature is strongly evident at all latitudes and in all oceans. The scientific evidence to date suggests that increased sea surface temperature will intensify cyclone activity and heighten storm surges. The paper assesses the exposure of (coastal) developing countries to sea-level rise and the intensification of storm surges. Geographic Information System (GIS) software is used to overlay the best available, spatially-disaggregated global data on critical exposed elements (land, population, GDP, agricultural extent and wetlands) with the inundation zones projected with heightened storm surges and a 1 m sea-level rise. Country-level results indicate a significant increase in exposure of developing countries to these climate-induced changes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bengtsson L, Hodges KI, Roeckner E (2006) Storm tracks and climate change. J Climate 19:3518–3543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brecht H (2007) A global urban risk index: analyzing mortality and economic threats from natural hazards. TheWorld Bank, Mimeo

  • Dasgupta S, Laplante B, Meisner C, Wheeler D, Yan J (2009) The impact of sea-level rise on developing countries: a comparative analysis. Clim Change 93(3):379–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emanuel K (2005) Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years. Nature 436:686–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emanuel K, Sundararajan R, William J (2008) Hurricanes and global warming: results from downscaling IPCC AR4 simulations. J Climate 89:347–367

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallegatte S, Patmore N, Maestre O, Dumas P, Morlot JC, Herweijer C, Wood RM (2008) Assessing climate change impacts, sea level rise, and storm surge risk in Port Cities: a case study of Copenhagen. OECD Environment Directorate, Environment Working Papers No. 3, Paris

  • IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis, summary for policymakers. International Panel on Climate Change, Geneva

  • International Workshop on Tropical Cyclone (IWTC) (2006) Statement on tropical cyclones and climate change, p 13. Available at http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/~tk/glob_warm_hurr.html

  • Keim ME (2006) Cyclones, tsunamis and human health. Oceanography 19(2):40–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Knutson TR, Tuleya RE (2004) Impact of CO2-induced warming on simulated hurricane intensity and precipitation sensitivity to the choice of climate model and convective parameterization. J Climate 17:3477–3495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landsea CW, Harper BA, Hoarau K, Knaff JA (2006) Climate change: can we detect trends in extreme tropical cyclones? Science 313(5786):452–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGranahan G, D Balk, B Anderson (2007) The rising tide: assessing the risks of climate change and human settlements in low elevation coastal zones. Environ Urban 19(1):17–37. International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/19/1/17

  • McInnes KL, Hubbert GD, Macadam I, O’Grady JG (2008) Assessing the impact of climate change on storm surges in Southern Australia, Mimeo

  • Michaels PJ, Knappenberger PC, Davis RE (2005) Sea-surface temperatures and tropical cyclones: breaking the paradigm. Presented at 15th conference of applied climatology. http://ams.confex.com/ams/15AppClimate/techprogram/paper_94127.htm

  • Nicholls RJ (2003) An expert assessment of storm surge “hotspots”. Final Report (Draft Version) to Center for Hazards and Risk Research. Lamont-Dohert Observatory, Columbia University

  • Nicholls RJ (2006) Storm surges in Coastal Areas. Natural Disaster Hot Spots Case Studies. Chapter 3. Margaret Arnold et al. 2006. The World Bank

  • Nicholls RJ, Hanson S, Herweijer C, Patmore N, Hallegatte S, Corfee-Morlot J, Chateau J, Muir-Wood R (2007) Ranking port cities with high exposure and vulnerability to climate extremes. OECD Environment Directorate, Environment Working Papers No. 1

  • Peltier WR (2000) Glacial isostatic adjustment corrections. In: Douglas BC, Kearney MS, Letherman SP (eds) Sea level rise: history and consequences. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Pielke RA, Landsea C, Mayfield M, Laver J, Pasch R (2005) Hurricanes and global warming. Bulletin of American Meteorological Society, pp 1571–1575

  • Shultz JM, Russell J, Espinel Z (2005) Epidemiology of tropical cyclones: the dynamics of disaster, disease, and development. Epidemiol Rev 27:21–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang S, McGrath R, Hanafin J, Lynch P, Semmler T, Nolan P (2008) The impact of climate change on storm surges over Irish waters. Ocean Model 25(1–2):83–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster PJ, Holland GJ, Curry JA, Chang H-R (2005) Changes in tropical cyclone number, duration and intensity in a warming environment. Science 309:1844–1846

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodworth PL, Blackman DL (2004) Evidence for systematic changes in extreme high waters since the mid-1970s. J Climate 17(6):1190–1197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woth K, Weisse R, von Storch H (2006) Climate change and North Sea storm surge extremes: an ensemble study of storm surge extremes expected in a changed climate projected by four different regional climate models. Ocean Dyn 56(1):3–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susmita Dasgupta.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0069-x

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B., Murray, S. et al. Exposure of developing countries to sea-level rise and storm surges. Climatic Change 106, 567–579 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-010-9959-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-010-9959-6

Keywords

Navigation