Storms, Floods and Tsunamis effects on Australia Infrastructure

Storms, Floods and Tsunamis effects on Australia Infrastructure

Aug. 2007  - The Australian government is 
undertaking to model the impacts of climate change on the whole coastline 
of the island continent. The project will help show the effects of storm 
surges, floods and tsunamis on Australia's coastal infrastructure, 
communities and ecosystems. 
Announcing the project today, Minister for the Environment and Water 
Resources, Malcolm Turnbull said this is the first time a whole continent 
anywhere in the world will be able to model the impacts of climate change 
on its coasts.

 
"This will help Australia's coastal regions plan their strategy to combat 
the effects of climate change," Turnbull said. "Eighty-five percent of 
Australians live on the coast and we all need to better understand how 
climate change will affect these regions so we can plan accordingly." 
Australian average temperatures have risen by 0.7 ºC (1.26 ºF) over the 
last century, and the warming trend appears to have emerged from the 
background of natural climate variability in the second half of the 20th 
century, the Environment Department said in a 2003 report. 
Annual average temperatures in Australia are projected to increase by 0.4 
to 2.0 °C by 2030, and 1.0 to 6.0 °C by 2070, relative to 1990, the 
government report projects.
About 80 percent of Australia's population lives within 50 km (30 miles) 
of the coast. Marked trends to greater population and investment in 
exposed coastal regions are increasing vulnerability to tropical cyclones 
and storm surges, said the Environment Department's report. 
Climate warming is expected to result in reduced runoff, higher riverine, 
estuarine and coastal aquifer salinity, and increased algal blooms which 
would exacerbate water supply and water quality problems in some urban 
areas - notably Perth and Adelaide - according to the report. 

  
The apartments and houses in which Australians live will be at risk as 
climate change intensifies, according to the Climate Action Network 
Australia, CANA, a consortium of environmental, conservation and other 
citizens groups. 
"A combination of more intense storms, more frequent bushfires and higher 
sea levels will not only threaten housing directly, it will also make 
homes more expensive to insure, to maintain, and to keep cool," CANA 
warns. 
"And as Australians settle in increasing numbers near the coast and in the 
hotter outer suburbs of our major cities, their vulnerability will 
increase." 
The government will invest A$1.7 million in technology to develop a 
digital model - a three-dimensional, graphical depiction of the Earth's 
surface - for Australia's entire coastline. 
The need for a digital elevation model was identified by Council of 
Australian Governments in its National Climate Change Adaptation 
Framework. 
The data purchase will be funded from the Australian government's $14.2 
million Climate Change Adaptation Programme. 
"For the first time, this data will give us a nationally consistent and 
detailed picture of our coastal regions," Turnbull said. "It will also be 
used to develop models that test how tsunamis or storm surges of varying 
severity would affect a specific region." 
The University of Tasmania and Geoscience Australia, under the Department 
of Industry, Tourism and Resources, will also contribute to the coastal 
vulnerability assessment by providing a map of coastal geomorphology, 
which will help determine the stability and vulnerability coastal land to 
erosion.

      Gold Coast in the southeast corner of Queensland, Australia  
The assessment of Australia's coastal vulnerability to climate change will 
be part of the work to be undertaken through the new $126 million Centre 
for Climate Change Adaptation being established. 
With funding for the five years to 2012, the Centre will provide 
decision-makers with the information and tools they need to understand and 
assess the risks of climate change impacts. 
The Centre will work with partners to demonstrate adaptation approaches 
that deliver multiple benefits, the government said. To support this 
change in thinking, the Centre will facilitate and support businesses, 
communities and governments to develop and implement strategies to manage 
their risks from the impacts of climate change. 
The research functions of the Centre will be coordinated through a new 
Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility. 
The Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility will be hosted by a 
scientific institution and will lead the research community in a national 
interdisciplinary effort to help government, industry and community 
decision makers manage the risks from the potential impacts of climate 
change. 
The deadline for submitting proposals to host this facility is September 
1, 2007. 

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