Earths Changing Coasts

Looks at the geography and people that make up coastal regions throughout the world, focusing on the changing characteristics of both.

Looks at the geography and people that make up coastal regions throughout the world, focusing on the changing characteristics of both.

Earth's geography might seem unchanging, but it's changed greatly over the years. Some of the most obvious changes have taken place on Earth's coastlines, where the consequences of human activities are seen in a number of ways. This book explores the different ways Earth's coastlines have changed and why these changes have taken place. Through fact boxes and sidebars, readers will also learn about how people can help prevent these changes from continuing. Full-color photographs further depict the changes to Earth's coastline environments.

Ages 5 to 8 years. Coasts are areas of land next to oceans. Coasts can be sandy or rocky and have landforms such as cliffs, sea stacks, caves, and arches. Coasts can be next to open oceans or be sheltered in bays or coves.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Considers the way our landscape is changing through natural processes and human activity. Includes case studies, cause-and-consequence panels and activity suggestions. 9 yrs+

Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for-and in many cases is already affecting-a broad range of human and natural systems. The compelling case for these conclusions is provided in Advancing the Science of Climate Change, part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America's Climate Choices. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never closed, the book shows that hypotheses about climate change are supported by multiple lines of evidence and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. As decision makers respond to these risks, the nation's scientific enterprise can contribute through research that improves understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and also is useful to decision makers at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The book identifies decisions being made in 12 sectors, ranging from agriculture to transportation, to identify decisions being made in response to climate change. Advancing the Science of Climate Change calls for a single federal entity or program to coordinate a national, multidisciplinary research effort aimed at improving both understanding and responses to climate change. Seven cross-cutting research themes are identified to support this scientific enterprise. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools, invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming partnerships with action-oriented programs.

'The oceans are the graveyards of the lands.' Lands become eaten away by the action of the seas, and it is no surprise to find that most of the world's shorelines are in a state of erosion. The fringes of Britain, its cliffs and beaches, are shrinking, disappearing into the surrounding sea as a result of coastal flooding, erosion and landsliding. Is climate change speeding up the process; are our homes, our villages and towns, at risk? This book examines how the British coast is changing and why - and what is being done to protect this island nation. Are we doing enough? Should we abandon vulnerable towns and villages to the seas as our forebears did and relocate coastal settlements inland? These are some of the difficult and potentially emotive questions that this book explores. Blending contemporary earth science and societal themes with historical and cultural records, and a hint of myth and romance for good measure, This Shrinking Land is a fascinating study of what we must learn from the past in order to manage the future of Britain's coasts. With more than 100 illustrations, most of them in colour, this is a stunning book.

Human settlement of the coastal zone -- Coastal tectonics and hazards -- Tropical cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons -- Storms, waves, coastal erosion and shoreline retreat -- Climate change and sea-level rise