Impact assessment of climate change on coastal hazards in Japan

Nobuhito Mori, Mark Kjerland, Sota Nakajo, Yoko Shibutani, Tomoya Shimura
Received 2016/08/26, Accepted 2016/10/24, Published 2016/11/30

Nobuhito Mori1), Mark Kjerland1), Sota Nakajo2), Yoko Shibutani3), Tomoya Shimura1)

1) Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University
2) Urban Design and Engineering, Osaka City University
3) Tottori University

Understanding future changes of ocean waves and storm surges is important for assessing and mitigating the impact of climate on coastal, marine and ocean environments and on engineering problems. This paper reviews the latest research results of climate change impacts on coastal hazards in Japan. First, future changes of wave climate and storm surges based on MRI-AGCM ensemble experiments are summarized. Second, the applications of coastal hazard projections to coastal structures and beach profiles are summarized as a series of climate impact assessment projects. There are clear increases in extreme values of wave heights and storm surges in the tropical cyclone dominant regions around the middle latitudes of the Western North Pacific including Japan. The influence of future climate change on caisson breakwaters is discussed considering sea level rise, extreme wave conditions and storm surges targeting the Pacific side of Japan.

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Copyright (c) 2016 Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources

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