Chapter 2 Climate change and its impact on rock coasts

Abstract

Abstract Most rock coast processes will be affected by climate change during this century, but our ability to distinguish the consequences will be hampered by poor understanding of the mechanisms, their relationships to environmental controls and the lack of long, reliable erosional and depositional records. The most important impact is likely to be by rising sea level, and possibly in some regions increased storminess. The greatest concern is with soft rock coasts but there will also be significant increases in the erosion of hard rock cliffs. Greater precipitation, more extreme rainfall events and stronger wave attack from rising sea level, increasing storminess and decreasing sea ice will promote cliff failures. Commensurate changes to wave refraction patterns, longshore transport paths and the availability and productivity of sediment sources with higher sea level will trigger rapid changes to beaches on rocky coasts and to the width of shore platforms. Other changes are likely to be fairly imperceptible in this century. Most weathering processes will be modified and marine organisms will migrate longitudinally and altitudinally with corresponding changes in the nature and degree of their bioerosional and bioprotectional activities.