Coastal Zone Case Studies

{ All caused by Global Warming }

1. As the water warms it expands, taking up more room and therefore causing sea levels to rise.

2. Ice Caps and Glaciers melting. Likely to cause 10-12 cms of sea level rise in the 21st Century

3. Loss of land in Greenland and Antartica. This ice is also melting; it flows into the sea and causes sea levels to rise.

1. Tourism is the islands biggest earner so if resorts are flooded and beaches are destroyed they will lose income.

2. Fishing is the counties biggest source of income that would be lost to flooding because there would be no harbours etc.

3. More money has to be spent of defences and not on other public services and development

1. Threatened coral reefs and its ecosystem due to warmer sea temperatures.

2. The ocean threatens the habitat of eery human, planta and land animal in the country.

3. The whole country could vanish 

1. People will eventually be forced to migrate to another country

2. Maldives uninhabitable by 2100. The oceans are rising by 9mm per year, meaning the islanders may have to abandon their homes before the end of the century.

3. Land flooded and destroyed including farmland 

1. The removal of sediment offshore (mainly illegally)

2. Input of coastal management strategies (groynes)

1. Frequently subjected to powerful destructive waves.

2. The soft boulder clay cliffs are easily eroded 

3. Power of the waves may increase due to sea level rise 

4. The eroded material is transported by longshore drift, herefore the beaches are thin and do little to protect the coastline.

1. By protecting areas of the coastline, it has made erosion worse in other places.

2. The headland at Flamborough has formed into classic examples of stacks, arches, stumps and caves.

3. Wildlife behind Spurn point is losing diversity as the environment cannot support many species because of the lack of sediment. 

1. Has to spend millions of £ a year in order to protect its population 

2. Many settlements rely heavily on tourism and if they are undefended their trades would be lost, less money going into the economy.

3. Framers are losing profits year on year as their land falls into the sea.

1. The loss of jobs mean that young people will move from the area.

2. Many villages and communitys are being lost due tot erosion of the land.

3. Properties along the coast lose value, leaving owners with a negative equity.