4.

3 Feet
That’s the height of an average 6 year old girl.

It’s also how much global sea levels could rise in the next 80
years.

Let’s take a look at what that could mean for us.

New York City, 2100

Image courtesy of Business Insider

Image courtesy of UMD Sea Grant
Annapolis, Maryland, 2017
Image courtesy of UMD Sea Grant
Annapolis, Maryland, 2100
Annapolis 2100, Post- tropical storm or hurricane
Image courtesy of UMD Sea Grant
Image courtesy of UMD Sea Grant
Baltimore, 2017
Image courtesy of UMD Sea Grant
Baltimore, 2100
Baltimore 2100, Post- tropical storm or hurricane
Image courtesy of UMD Sea Grant
Ecological Engineering for Coastal
Resilience
Rae Correll-Brown
What risks do coastal cities face today?
● Sea level rise
● Increasing tropical storm frequency
● Storm surges
● Coastal erosion
What preventative measures are coastal areas taking?
Shoreline Armoring/ “Hard” Shoreline Engineering - the
anthropogenic modification of shorelines to protect reduce wave
energy and protect against erosion.

Seawalls, revetments, breakwaters

Most common form of shoreline engineering.

What are the issues with these methods?
● Replace and fragment
valuable coastal habitats - loss
of biodiversity.
● Cause vertical shoreline
erosion and trap sediment so
that shorelines downstream
also erode.
● They are not resilient. They
degrade over time and break
under stress from waves.
Coastal Resilience

For example...
How can we promote resilience?
Choose solutions that can grow stronger over time, self-repair
and recover from disturbances.

Like…
Ecological shoreline engineering - the key to resilience
aka “Soft” shoreline engineering - Uses exclusively natural, or
natural and hybrid infrastructure, to prevent shoreline erosion,
attenuate waves, and enhance resilience. How?
The main goal - Erosion Protection
● Minimize impacts of erosive

waves

● Marsh grasses dampen and

disperse waves

● Sills dissipate wave energy to

reduce erosive force

Resilience
● Self sustaining and self-repairing.
● Shorelines can “bend” with disturbances rather than breaking
○ Marsh grasses hold sediment
● 100% success rate were 76% of bulkheads failed
● After disturbances, shorelines can grow and adapt without expensive repairs
Habitat services
● Ecological shoreline engineering solutions preserve habitat,
and increase habitat complexity.
● They create or restore essential shoreline habitat, and reduce
erosion.
Ecosystem services
Benefits from humans that come from
the maintenance of healthy
ecosystems.

Ecologically engineered shorelines

● Preserve fisheries, oysters and fish

● Marshes sequester carbon in
underlying sediment
● Oyster reefs filter water, 1888 kg a
year
Why aren’t ecologically-engineered structures everywhere?
● Lack of data on efficacy during storms
● Lack of data on performance over time
● Lack of specific data on the issue of shoreline armoring in the
US.
My research
● GOAL: Characterize the severity of shoreline armoring in the United
States, in order to inform policymakers and promote the use of
alternative shoreline solutions.

1. Literature review
2. ArcGIS study
3. Policy review
Findings
● Characterized the benefits of ecologically engineered
shorelines over armored techniques.
● Established the need for a consistent method of tracking
changes in shoreline characteristics over time.
● Currently studying the amount of armoring on US shorelines.
● Currently working on a review of living shoreline policy.
Thank you!