In a warmer world, rising sea levels could render many coastlines, beaches, and reef islands uninhabitable, or destroy them altogether. The 1.09℃ Earth has warmed since pre-industrial times has already heightened seas by 20 centimeters.
. We found the observed growth of coastlines is largely linked to the"coastal sediment budget" – the amount of sand, rocks, and other sediment moving into and out of the beach over time., even down to individual beaches, when making coastal management plans.To make sense of this phenomenon, we first need to understand sediment budgets. A"positive" sediment budget is when more sand comes to the beach than leaves.
When we looked at coastal changes on at a global scale, we found large parts of entire continents, such as Africa and Southeast Asia, were also growing. This suggests that net positive sediment budgets on the coast are common.It may be explained by two things. In natural settings, extra sand likely arrives from either deeper sediment located on the continental shelf or from rivers. Human intervention, in the form of coastal development, also drives coastal growth.
These results show that sediment budgets and human intervention can be much greater drivers of coastal change than a relatively small rise in sea level. So it's important coastlines presently growing aren't seen as evidence that sea level rise does not drive coastal erosion. Nor that such coasts are free from future erosion risk.
Coastal erosion is, by itself, a natural process and is only a problem when human infrastructure or livelihoods are at risk.
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