New research finds that a warming planet will also alter ocean waves along more than 50% of the world’s coastlines. This research, published in Nature Climate Change, has significant implications for coastal flooding and erosion.
Research led by the University of Southampton (UK) and involving National Oceanography Centre (NOC) scientists suggests that ‘rogue’ waves are occurring less often, but becoming more extreme.
The 1st International Workshop on Waves, Storm Surges and Coastal Hazards hosted by the NOC and organised together with Environment Canada and the University of North Florida has been a highly successful event.
Talking to the BBC about the recent hurricanes, NOC’s Professor Judith Wolf, said “This year’s hurricane season is worse than usual, at least the worst since 2005 when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. We cannot attribute this directly to climate change – there are large changes in the number and severity of storms from year to year.
Tsunamis are long, powerful waves that are created by sub-sea earth movements – earthquakes, land and ice slips, meteor strikes. But not all Earth movements create these waves, many give little or no effect.