The WCRP Grand Challenge (GC) on Regional Sea Level Change and Coastal Impacts held its third meeting on Oct. 14-15 in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

The GC Sea Level is an integrated interdisciplinary program on sea level research reaching from the global to the regional and coastal scales. In particular, the program aims for close interaction with relevant coastal stakeholders to make sure that results of the proposed scientific research are most useful for coastal zone management, and impacts and adaptation efforts.

This particular meeting focused on progress and future plans of the GC’s individual Work Programmes, with a particular emphasis on the co-design of activities with coastal managers and policy makers. The sea level aspects of the recent 1.5 C as well as the upcoming Oceans and Cryosphere IPCC reports were discussed. New paleoclimate insights were highlighted as well as important activities with partner organisaitons. From the modeling perspective progress with the WCRP Coupled Model Intercomparison Project were analysed, in particular the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project.

The meeting participants decided on the need for a number of focused workshops, for example on “sea level science for services “to explore what science can provide in relationship to coastal zone management and on the importance of land subsidence on a global scale. It was felt that a Sea Level Conference should be held in 2022/2023, with robust engagement of decision makers, noting the interest from organisations such as the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

For further details see: https://www.wcrp-climate.org/gc-sea-level

(News prepared by Dr.Michael Sparrow from WCRP)