In late April, the Department of Defense (DOD) released a report on how sea level rise may affect military installations around the world. Developed by a multi-agency team of researchers, Regional Sea Level Scenarios for Coastal Risk Management: Managing the Uncertainty of Future Sea Level Change and Extreme Water Levels for Department of Defense Coastal Sites Worldwide and an accompanying online database (not publicly available) provide regionalized sea level and extreme water level scenarios for three future time horizons (2035, 2065 and 2100) for 1,774 military sites worldwide.
According to the authors, the report was written to address the unique risk of DoD facilities to sea level rise (SLR). Many SLR reports do not address key considerations affecting localized scenarios and storm events at military installations that are becoming more frequent. The scenarios are based on plausible and scientifically credible future sea level and extreme water level values. Decision-makers can use these scenarios for relative vulnerability or impact assessments at the site level or across several installations or military services. The report and database were developed under the auspices of the DOD Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.