Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers

This briefing transcript features experts from Washington Sea Grant discussing the development and implementation of localized sea level rise projections for coastal managers and decision-makers in Washington State. The presentation details the transition from broad regional assessments to a probabilistic, localized framework that accounts for vertical land movement, and describes how this data is being integrated into urban planning, habitat restoration, and community-led resilience strategies.

• A 2014 survey of coastal managers and decision-makers in Washington State revealed an 'action gap,' where the perceived importance of climate impacts, particularly sea level rise, far exceeded the availability of the information and tools needed to plan for them.
• The 2018 Sea Level Rise Assessment improved upon previous reports by adopting a probabilistic framework, which uses percentiles to communicate the likelihood of various sea level rise scenarios. This allows decision-makers to align their planning with specific risk tolerances rather than relying on a narrow range of uncertainty.
• Localizing projections is critical in Washington State because vertical land movement varies significantly by location; for example, sea levels are dropping in Neah Bay while rising in Seattle, despite the locations being only about sixty miles apart.
• Washington Sea Grant developed an interactive map and a Tableau-based tool that allow users to download localized relative sea-level projections by combining probabilistic ocean data with vertical land movement estimates for specific coastal locations.
• The localized data has been applied to specific infrastructure and planning projects in Tacoma, including the redesign of Owen Beach to push facilities upland and the visioning of a linear park that incorporates sea level rise, storm surge, and wave event modeling.
• In Island County, the project supported the creation of a community-based coastal resilience planning guide and adaptation strategies for shoreline homeowners in historic beach, canal, and bluff communities, focusing on options to protect, accommodate, or retreat.
• The project's outreach efforts, including over 20 workshops reaching at least 300 people, showed a 70 percent response rate from participants who confirmed they are using the provided tools and information.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2020). Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers. https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041320.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers. 2020. https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041320.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers |date=April 2020 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041320.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2020localizing, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Localizing Sea Level Rise Projections for Decision-Makers}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/transcript_041320.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }