Impact assessment of climate change on coastal hazards in Japan

Abstract

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.