Unraveling coastal sea level changes since 1900 with Sonke Dangendorf

This week, the Climate Adaptation in the Gulf of Guinea Cluster held a workshop entitled, "Resilient Coasts: Sustainable Frameworks for Climate Adaptation in the Gulf of Guinea." The Cluster is considering climate adaptation strategies to coastal erosion in Abidjan, Accra, and Lagos that would be technically feasible, that could be implemented, and that would garner political support. The strategies include coastal defense to protect high value stretches of the coast; livelihood protection in situ, examining how to make coastal communities floodable but functional; and livelihood protection ex situ, the option of voluntary non-temporary resettlement of vulnerable coastal populations, either with or without compensation. An analysis of past and future sea level rise across the Gulf of Guinea and probabilistic projections of sea level change to 2100 CE will inform the Cluster’s understanding of the social and economic risks of erosion and flooding on six different vulnerable communities in these cities.
For more information on this Cluster visit https:/salatainstitute.harvard.edu/projects/climate-adaptation-in-the-gulf-of-guinea/
Keynote Speaker: Sönke Dangendorf is an Assistant Professor in the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering. Dr. Dangendorf has more than 12 years of experience researching mean and extreme sea levels, ocean tides, and storm surges and the impact on coastal flooding. He previously held positions as an “Akademischer Rat” at the University of Siegen, Germany, and as an Assistant Professor for Ocean and Earth Science at the Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. Dr. Dangendorf was a contributing co-author to the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and is currently a member of the NASA sea level science team. Dr. Dangendorf serves as an Editor of the Nature journal Scientific Data.