How Will Climate Change Impact Coastal Cities?

With the area at high risk because of climate change, the 22-year-old Dalhousie student is trying to determine what needs to be done: if dykes need to be reinforced or if salt marshes should be reclaimed. The Tantramar District Planning Commission is working on a rural plan and is interested in Ms. Hood’s conclusions. “The area is unplanned – it’s mostly farmland – and planning is really going to take a role as the commission draws up its plan,” says Ms. Hood. Meanwhile, Amanda Kosloski’s research is looking at how climate change might affect land use along Halifax Harbour, from the Macdonald Bridge to Woodside Ferry Terminal on the Dartmouth side. Should wharves be modified, sea walls reinforced or development restricted? She’s working with scientists from Natural Resources Canada and municipal planners with Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax Harbour may be vulnerable to rising sea levels. Nova Scotia is anticipating the high-tide mark on the Atlantic coast will be at least 70 centimetres higher by the next century: that’s a projected sea level rise of 40 centimetres coupled with the land subsiding by 30 centimetres. Melting glaciers, a melting ice cap and the fact that warmer water takes up more volume than cold are behind the predictions. But climate change isn’t a far-off concept: significant weather events such as the spring flood of 2003, Hurricane Juan in September 2003 and White Juan in February 2004 indicates climate change is already affecting Nova Scotia. ... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080220225939.htm

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