Oceans on the rise

Around 85% of Australia’s population lives within 50km of the coast, alongside a significant proportion of key assets and infrastructure. Yet these coastlines are exposed to a range of natural hazards that can cause severe damage.

Helping to understand this risk and allow emergency services, coastal planners and engineers to prepare better is research described in Hazard Note 16, which is an overview of the Coastal management cluster of research projects. This research has two linked studies.

• Developing better predictions for extreme water levels
• Storm surge: resilience to clustered disaster events on the coast

These studies will strengthen Australia’s capability to make informed decisions for an improved resilience of coastal communities and infrastructure.

Additionally, the short video below features cluster leader Dr Scott Nichol and lead end-user Dr Martine Woolf (both Geoscience Australia) discussing why the research is important and how the outcomes will benefit emergency services, coastal planners and engineers.