Oceanic Hazards - Natural Hazards - page 175

these environmental parameters reflect the large-scale
climatic change that the Earth is presently under-
going. The more dramatic and measurable increases
in temperature have unfortunately detracted from the
more significant nature of that change, namely
the increasing variability of climate since 1948. This
increase accelerated in the 1970s and shows no sign of
abating. The world's beaches will continue to respond
to this change; unfortunately, it will be in an erosive
manner.
Finally, a note of caution: this chapter has cast
doubt on the relevance of emphasizing a uniform,
worldwide rising sea level, and shown that this factor
is not solely responsible for eroding beaches. Erosion
of the world's beaches may not be so common, or
so permanent, as generally believed. For example,
when averaged over the long term, the high tide
record for Stanwell Park Beach (Figure 2.11) is
stable even though sea level off this coast is currently
thought to be rising by 1.6 mm yr -1 ; rainfall has
increased about 15 per cent since 1948; and there are
no presently active sediment sources. In Florida,
detailed surveys at 100 m intervals around the coast
have shown that beaches did not erode between
1972 and 1986, even though sea level rose and
rainfall increased and sand supplies remained
meager. Here, the absence of storm activity over this
time span may be the reason for stability.

Bryant, E.A. 1993. The magnitude and nature of 'noise' in world sea
level records. In Chowdhury, R.N. and Sivakumar, M. (eds)
Environmental Management, Geo-Water & Engineering
Aspects . Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 747-751.
Cazenave, A., Do Minh, D., Cretaux, J.F., Cabanes, C., and
Mangiarotti S. 2002. Interannual sea level change at global and
regional scales using Jason-1 altimetry . <http://topex-www.jpl.
nasa.gov/science/invest-cazenave.html>
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research 2003. Long term sea
level change: global . <http://ccar.colorado.edu/research/gmsl/
PDF/msl_global_noib.pdf> (URL defunct as of 2004)
Dalrymple, R. 2000. University of Delaware Wave Calculator.
<http://www.coastal.udel.edu/faculty/rad/wavetheory.html>
Defant, A. 1961. Physical Oceanography v. 1. Pergamon, New York.
Dolan, R. and Hayden, B. 1983. Patterns and prediction of
shoreline change. In Komar, P.D. (ed.) CRC Handbook of
Coastal Processes and Erosion . CRC Press, Boca Raton,
pp. 123-150.
Dolan, R., Hayden, B., Bosserman, K. and Isle, L. 1987. Frequency
and magnitude data on coastal storms. Journal of Coastal
Research 3(2): 245-247.
Gibeaut, J.C., Gutierrez, R., and Hepner, T.L. 2002. Threshold
conditions for episodic beach erosion along the Southeast Texas
Coast. Transactions of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological
Societies 52: 323-335.
Gornitz, V. 2000. Impoundment, groundwater mining, and other
hydrologic transformations: Impacts on global sea level rise. In
Douglas, B.C., Kearney, M.S., and Leatherman, S.P. (eds) Sea
Level Rise: History and Consequences . Academic Press, San
Diego, pp. 97-119.
Gross, M.C. 1972. Oceanography: A View of the Earth . Prentice-
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1995a. ' TOPEX/POSEDON: Wave
height, January '. <http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/experimental/
all98invProject.Site/Pages/trl/inv47WAVE_HEIGHT_JAN.html>
Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1995b. ' TOPEX/POSEDON: Wave
height, July '. <http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/experimental/all98
invProject.Site/Pages/trl/inv4-7WAVE_HEIGHT_JUL.html>
Kovacs, A. and Sodhi, D.S. 1978. Shore Ice Pile-up and Tide-up:
Field Observations, Models, Theoretical Analyses. United States
Army Corps Eng. Cold Regions Research and Engineering
Laboratory Report.
Kushnir, Y., Cardone, V.J., Greenwood, J.G., and Cane, M. 1997. On
the recent increase in North Atlantic wave heights. Journal of
Climate 10: 2107-2113.
Lawson, G. 2001. Monsters of the deep. New Scientist 30 June: 28-32.
Long, D.G., Ballantyne, J., and Bertoia, C. 2002. Is the number of
Antarctic icebergs really increasing?. EOS, Transactions -
American Geophysical Union 83: 469, 474.
Nerem, R. S., Mitchum, G.T., Giese, B.S., Leuliette, E.W., and
Chambers, P. 2002. An investigation of very low frequency sea level
change using satellite altimeter data . <http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/
science/invest-nerem.html> (URL defunct as of 2004)
PO.DAAC (Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive
Center) 2003. NEREIDS ocean topography overview . Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Californian Institute of Technology
<http://nereids.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ssh.cgi?show=overview>

REFERENCES AND FURTHER
READING

Anisimov, O. and Fitzharris, B. 2001. Polar regions (Arctic and
Antarctic). In McCarthy, J.J., Canziani, O.F., Leary, N.A.,
Dokken, D.J. and White, K.S. (eds.) Climate Change 2001:
Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability - Contribution of
Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of IPCC .
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 801-842.
Beer, T. 1983. Environmental Oceanography . Pergamon, Oxford.
Bird, E. C. F. 1996. Beach Management (Coastal Morphology and
Research) . Wiley, Chichester.
Bruun, P. (ed.) 1985. Design and Construction of Mounds for
Breakwalls and Coastal Protection . Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Bryant, E.A. 1985. Rainfall and beach erosion relationships,
Stanwell Park, Australia, 1895-1980: worldwide implications for
coastal erosion. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie Supplementband
57: 51-66.
Bryant, E.A. 1987. CO 2 -warming, rising sea level and retreating
coasts: review and critique. Australian Geographer 18(2): 101-113.
Bryant, E.A. 1988. The effect of storms on Stanwell Park, NSW
beach position, 1943-1980. Marine Geology 79: 171-187.