February 4, 2016 – Increased extreme weather events expected to accompany climate change pose a significant risk to coastal regions, home to more than half of the U.S. population with more people on the way. In fact, the rate of population growth in areas within 50 miles of the coasts is projected to nearly triple the national rate, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers. Consequently, vast amounts of critical infrastructures for oil and gas, power generation, water, rail and road transportation, and banking are located in these areas. They are all particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, tsunamis, storm surges, flooding, sea level rise and erosion. “Our research profiles these areas in order to enhance understanding of the challenges, risks and opportunities for improving the reliability and resiliency of infrastructure services in these areas,” said Thomaz Carvalhaes, who presented a talk titled “Profiling Populations at Risk Due to a Changing Climate in Coastal Areas of the United States” at the UTK GeoSym 2016 (http://geography.utk.edu/graduates/geosym/).
One-third of the nation’s energy generation units are located within 50 miles of the coasts.