Sea Level Rise Reports

For the last 25 years, EPA has been assessing the implications of rising sea level and opportunities to prepare for the possible consequences. Our site archive provides an extended abstract on which of these reports provide relevant information for particular issues and what to read first.

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Reports (in reverse chronological order):

Background Documents Supporting Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.1: Coastal Elevations and Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise - U.S. EPA, EPA-430-R-07-004 (2008).
Does Sea Level Rise Matter to Transportation Along the Atlantic Coast? (PDF, 17 pp., 2,367 KB) In Department of Transportation Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting, "The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Transportation." (2003).
Maps of Lands Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise: Modeled Elevations along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. - Climate Research, CR 18:205-228 (2001).
Does the U.S. Government Realize that the Sea is Rising? How to Restructure Federal Programs so that Wetland and Beaches Survive (PDF, 68 pp., 1.6 MB) - Golden Gate University Law Review, Vol. 30, Number 4 (2000).
Rising Seas, Coastal Erosion, and the Takings Clause: How to Save Wetlands and Beaches Without Hurting Property Owners - Maryland Law Review, Volume 57, 1279-1399 (1998).
The Risk of Sea Level Rise: A Delphic Monte Carlo Analysis in which Twenty Researchers Specify Subjective Probability Distributions for Model Coefficients within their Respective Areas of Expertise - Climatic Change, 33: 151-212 (1996).
The Probability of Sea Level Rise - U.S. EPA, EPA-230-R-95-008 (1995).
Anticipatory Planning for Sea-Level Rise Along the Coast of Maine - Maine State Planning Office and U.S. EPA, EPA- 230-R-95-900 (1995).
The Costs of Climate Change to the United States - originally published in Global Climate Change: Implications, Challenges and Mitigation Measures (1992)
Greenhouse Effect and Coastal Wetland Policy: How Americans Could Abandon an Area the Size of Massachusetts at Minimum Cost - Environmental Management, Vol. 15, 1:39-58 (1992).
Greenhouse Effect and Sea Level Rise: The Cost of Holding Back the Sea - Coastal Management, 19:171-204 (1991).
Projected Impact of Relative Sea Level Rise on the National Flood Insurance Program - originally published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Insurance Administration (1991).
Strategies for Adaptation to Sea Level Rise - originally published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Response Strategies Working Group (1990).
Strategies for Adapting to the Greenhouse Effect - Journal of the American Planning Association, Summer:311-323 (1990).
Greenhouse Effect, Sea Level Rise, and Land Use - Land Use Policy, Vol 7: issue 2, pp:138-53 (1990).
Greenhouse Effect, Sea Level Rise, and Barrier Islands: Case Study of Long Beach Island, New Jersey - Coastal Management, 18:65-90 (1990).
Appendix B: Sea Level Rise (from EPA's 1989 Report to Congress). - In Potential Effects of Global Climate Change On the United States, EPA-230-05-89-052 (1989)
Greenhouse Effect, Sea Level Rise, and Coastal Wetlands - U.S. EPA, EPA-230-05-86-013 (1988).
Greenhouse Effect, Sea Level Rise, and Coastal Drainage Systems - Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, Vol. 113, No. 2., March 1987.
Saving Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands: The Need for a Long-term Plan of Action - U.S.EPA and Louisiana Geological Survey, EPA-230-02-87-026, April 1987).
Greenhouse Effect, Sea Level Rise, and Salinity in the Delaware Estuary - U.S. EPA and the Delaware River Basin Commission (1986).
Potential Impacts of Sea Level Rise on the Beach at Ocean City, Maryland - U.S. EPA (1985), Chapters 1 and 2.
Greenhouse Effect and Sea Level Rise: A Challenge for this Generation - (Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc, 1984). forward by William D. Ruckelshaus

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