Norwegian Institute for Air Research
Netherlands Institute for Ecology
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Institute for Environmental Studies, Free University Amsterdam
University of Plymouth
Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment
Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone
 


Climate Change and Coastal Management
Synthesis Results

1. Introduction

In the words of the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (2001), 'The Earth's climate system has demonstrably changed on both global and regional scales since the pre-industrial era, with some of these changes attributable to human activities.' The collective picture is one of a warming world, with rising sea levels, longer growing seasons, shifting ecological assemblages and ranges, and more frequent storminess.

The climate system is a complex interplay between the atmosphere, the oceans and ice-sheets, and land systems, both the biosphere and geosphere. As such, the remit of ELOISE projects can be mapped firmly within the scope of climate change science (Figure 1). The corollary is that climate change is just one aspect of the dynamic system to which the ELOISE scientists are contributing knowledge and understanding. Both coastal ecosystems and coastal hydrology feature strongly in the ELOISE portfolio, which aims to provide vital information about the state of the environment and its critical processes now, and also the consequences for the overall interplay that may be expected by changing those processes.
 
Figure 1. Principle themes of ELOISE projects address key interfaces in the climate system - land, ocean, atmosphere and life.
Figure 1. Principle themes of ELOISE projects address key interfaces in the climate system - land, ocean, atmosphere and life.
 

Since the inception of the ELOISE projects, climate change has risen much higher on the international policy and scientific agendas. Although the scope of most projects did not explicitly include an analysis of the implications of climate change, either as causal factors in the processes being studied or in terms of their impacts on climatic processes, much information generated in the ELOISE process makes a valuable contribution to climate change science.

Four mainstream topics were identified based on the up to date list of publications from the ELOISE projects:

1. Baseline Observations - Role of the coastal zone in climate change.
2. Tools and building blocks of climate change science.
3. Manifestation of climate change in the coastal zone.
4. Human Impacts of climate change .

The following table displays the list of ELOISE projects (C for completed) that can be matched (x) with the four topics mentioned above:
 
Project Acronym Project Title Topics
1 2 3 4
ANICE Atmospheric nitrogen inputs into the coastal ecosystem (C) x     x
BASIC Baltic Sea cyanobacteria (C) x   x  
BASIS The Barents Sea impact study (C)     x x
BBS Baltic basin case study (C)       x
BIOGEST Biogases transfers in estuaries (C) x x    
CHABADA Changes in Bacterial Diversity and Activity in Mediterranean Coastal Waters as Affected by Eutrophication (C)       x
CLICOFI Effects of climate induced temperature change on marine coastal fishes (C) x x x  
COMET Composition of dissolved organic matter and its interaction with metals and ultraviolet radiation in river-ocean systems: impact on the microbiological foodweb x      
DELOS Environmental Design of Low Crested Coastal Defence Structures       x
DANUBS Nutrient management in the Danube Basin and its impact on the Black Sea     x  
DUNES Integrated management methods: Monitoring environmental change in coastal dune ecosystems (C) x x x x
ECOFLAT The eco-metabolism of estuarine intertidal flat (C) x x    
EROS-21 Biogeochemical interactions between the Danube River and the NW Black Sea (C) x x   x
ESCAPE Entangled sulfur and carbon cycles in Phaeocystis dominated ecosystems (C) x x    
EUROCAT European Catchments - Catchments changes and their impact on the coast       x
EUROSAM European salt marshes modelling (C)     x  
EULIT Effects of Eutrophicated seawater on rocky shore ecosystems studied in large littoral mesocosms (C)       x
F-ECTS Feed-Backs of estuarine circulation and transport of sediments on phytobenthos (C)   x    
HIMOM A system of Hierarchical Monitoring Methods for assessing changes in the biological and physical state of intertidal areas   x    
HUMOR Human interaction with large scale coastal morphological evolution       x
INCA Integrated nitrogen model for european catchments x x    
ISLED Influence of rising sea level on ecosystem dynamics of salt marshes (C) x   x  
KEYCOP Key Coastal Processes in the Mesotrophic Skagerrak and the Oligotrophic Northern Aegean: A Comparative Study (C)   x    
METROMED Dynamic of matter transfer and biogeochemical cycles: Their modelling in coastal systems of the Mediterranean Sea (C)   x    
MOLTEN Monitoring long-term trends in eutrophication and nutrients in the coastal zone : Creation of guidelines for the evaluation of background conditions, anthropogenic influence and recovery   x    
M&MS Monitoring & Managing of European seagrass beds     x  
MMS2000+ Marine Monitoring System 2000+ for the North Sea Region / Feasibility and Definition Phase (C)   x    
NICE Nitrogen cycling in estuaries (C) x x   x
OAERRE Oceanographic applications to eutrophication in regions of restricted exchange     x  
OROMA Operational Radar and Optical Mapping in monitoring hydrodynamic, morphodynamic and environmental parameter for coastal management       x
PHASE Physical forcing and biogeochemical fluxes in shallow coastal ecosystems (C) x x    
POPCYCLING Environmental Cycling of Selected Persistent Organic Pollutants (Pops) in the Baltic Region (C) x      
PROTECT PRediction Of The Erosion of Cliffed Terrains       x
RANR Regional analysis of subsurface retention of nitrogen and the impact of such retention on the export of nitrogen from land to sea (C) x x   x
ROBUST The role of buffering capacities in stabilising coastal lagoon ecosystems (C) x      
SUBGATE Submarine groundwater-fluxes and transport-processes from methane-rich coastal sedimentary environments (C)   x    
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