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McSaveney, M.J., Goff, J.R., Darby, D.J., Goldsmith, P., Barnett, A.,
Elliot, S., and Nongkas, M., 2000. The 17th July 1998 Tsunami,
Papua New Guinea: evidence and initial interpretation. Marine
Geology, 170: 81–92.
Murray-Wallace, C.V., and Scott, D.B. (eds.), 1999. Late Quaternary
coastal records of rapid change: applications to present and future
conditions (IGCP Project 367). Quaternary International, 56: 1–154.
Ortlieb, L., Barrientos, S., Guzman, N., 1996. Coseismic Coastal Uplift
and Coralline Algae record in Northern Chile; the 1995 Antofagasta
Earth quake case: Quaternary Science Reviews, 15, nos. 8–9,
pp. 949–960.
Pirazzoli, P.A., 1991. World Atlas of Sea-level Changes. Amsterdam:
Elsevier Oceanographic series 58.
Scott, D.B. (ed.), 1999. Records of Rapid Change in the Late
Quaternary (IGCP 367). Quaternary International, 60: 1–126.
Scott, D.B., and Medioli, F.S., 1986. Foraminifera as sea-level indica-
tors. In Plassche O. van de (ed.), Sea-level Research: A Manual for
the Collection and Evaluation of Data. Norwich, U.K., Geo Books,
pp. 435–456.
Scott, D.B., and Ortlieb, L. (eds.), 1996. Records of rapid events in
Late Quaternary shorelines. Quaternary Science Reviews, 15(8,9):
761–960.
Scott, D.B., Shennan, I.A., and Combellick, R.A., 1998. Evidence for
pre-cursor events prior to the 1964 Great Alaska earthquake from
buried forest deposits in Girdwood, Alaska: abstract in Annual
Geological Society of America Meeting, Toronto, Canada, pp. A-226.
Shennan, I.A., and Gehrels, R. (eds.), 1996. An introduction to IGCP
Project 367 Late Quaternary coastal records of rapid change:
Application to present and future conditions. Journal of Coastal
Research, 12(4): 795–797.
Shennan, I.A., Long, A.J., Rutherford, M.M., Innes, J.B., Green, F.M.,
and Walker, K.J., 1998. Tidal marsh stratigraphy, sea-level change
and large earthquakes II. submergence events during the last 3500
years at Netarts Bay, Oregon, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews, 17:
365–393.
Shennan, I.A., Scott, D.B., Rutherford, M.R., and Zong, Y., 1999.
Microfossil analysis of sediments representing the 1964 earthquake,
exposed at Girdwood Flats, Alaska, USA. Quaternary International,
60: 55–74.
Stathis, C., Stiros, S., and Scott, D.B. (eds.), 2000. Records of
Rapid coastal change in Late Quaternary coastal sediments and land-
forms. Marine Geology (special issue), 170: 249 p., thematic issue.
Cross-references
Barrier Islands
Changing Sea Levels
Coastal Changes, Gradual
Coastal Lakes and Lagoons
Deltas
Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
Meteorological Effects on Coasts
Sediment transport (see Cross-Shore Sediment Transport and
Longshore Sediment Transport)
Storm Surge
Tide Gauges
Tsunami
COASTAL CLIMATE
Three factors are important in an explanation of coastal climate. The
first is the juxtaposition of two surfaces, land (or in some cases, ice) and
water, of very different properties. The second is the geographic location
of the coast with respect to continental masses and global-scale
atmospheric and oceanic currents of air and water, respectively. The
third is the topography of the coast and its hinterland. We must also
take into account temporal and spatial scale issues so as to order the
different aspects and to maximize our understanding of coastal cli-
mates. Scale will be used as an organizing framework in the following
account.
Several useful data and information sources exist for an entrance into
the topic of Coastal Climatology. One is an encyclopedia entry under
the same topic name by Walker et al. (1987) in The Encyclopedia of
Climatology. A second is the Master Environmental Library that is an
online data source for environmental data for coastal modeling applica-
tions (Allard and Siquig, 1998).
255
Time and space scales
Climatologists recognize different types of climate according to their
time and space scales. The local wind currents that redistribute sand
around a beach sand dune and the different temperatures on the sunny
and shaded side of a stand of beach grass would be in the realm of
microclimatology. Different climates formed by the different surfaces
and local climatic interactions as one might traverse the sand of a bar-
rier island, the water of its related lagoon, the inland coastal marshes,
and the forest or agricultural land of the immediate hinterland would
constitute a study of topoclimatology. A sea breeze might penetrate
inland some 75 km from the shore on a given day and would represent
a phenomenon studied in mesoclimatology. Climatic variable value gra-
dients parallel to the coastline are usually much steeper than those that
are perpendicular to the coastline. The geography of the US Pacific
Northwest (PNW), for example, gives rise to well-marked gradients in
values of climatic variables both in the latitudinal (north–south) direc-
tion but also in the longitudinal (west–east) direction. This is not
uncommon for coastlines that have some north–south alignment. The
location of a coast in relation to global latitude, continental geography,
hemispheric-scale winds and storm tracks in the atmosphere, and sur-
face water currents in the ocean, and the state of teleconnective indices
such as the Southern Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation, would
help explain its macroscale climatology. The passage from micro to
macroscale defines a scale hierarchy. Most scale hierarchies in Earth
Sciences, including coastal climates, have at least three characteristics.
First, events on the larger scales tend to set the context for those on the
scale below. Second, explanation of events on one scale is best given by
reference to events on the scale immediately above and below the scale
and phenomenon in question. Third, at least at the lower end of the
hierarchy, there tends to be a direct relationship between time and space
scales. For example, ephemeral events, like an eddy in the wind, happen
on small time and space scales while some other events, like a hurricane,
sometimes take many days to run their course and have the potential to
affect a relatively large geographic area.
Microscale coastal climates
Wind is the principal climatic variable at the microscale in coastal cli-
mates and its interaction with topographic and biologic factors has long
been studied. Three factors are important at this scale. First, wind at
coastlines tends to come from a predominant direction often from off-
shore. This has the effects of distributing sand and sand dunes in par-
ticular ways, and of sometimes shaping the vegetation canopies. The
actual type of sand dune formed has been suggested to be a function
of the supply of sand, the density of vegetative cover, and the average
wind speed (Strahler and Strahler, 1992, p. 406). Second, the capacity
of wind to carry sand is an exponential function of its velocity. Thus
when wind speeds are decreased, by, for example, the presence of
vegetation or a fence on a beach, then sand and other particles being
transported are rapidly deposited. Vegetation and wind thus have a syn-
ergistic interaction in stabilizing sand movement. Third, typically wind
velocity increases logarithmically with height. This fact needs to be
taken into account when designing high-rise buildings in coastal envi-
ronments. Pilkey et al. (1998, p. 254) have noted that at any given height
pressure from the wind is greater near the shore than it is inland.
Topoclimatology
The coast, interpreted broadly, may be formed of many different sur-
faces including water, sand, soil, rock, and a variety of vegetated and
urban surfaces. Each one of these surfaces has a different energy and
moisture balance, and depending on its roughness, a different degree of
momentum transfer with the atmosphere. These differences might not
be too important on the topoclimate scale on a coastline with a steep
cliff topped with relatively homogeneous vegetation because the
climatic differences would be overwhelmed by both smaller- and larger-
scale processes. However, the differences are important on a coastline
typified by a barrier island, lagoon, and hinterland series on days when
the large-scale wind is not too strong. The differences are important
because they will form a set of distinctly different microclimates that
will relate, at least, to the flora and fauna of the area.
Salt transport by wind is also important at this scale. The concentra-
tion of salt particles near the surface in coastal climates is directly
related to the wind speed (Bigg, 1996). A high number of salt particles
makes the coastal air very hazy. The salt particles attract water vapor
and play an important role in raindrop formation. Damaging salt spray
can sometimes have a pruning effect on coastal vegetation. How far
inland or how high up a cliff this effect can occur is determined by wind
256 COASTAL CLIMATE
flow and its interaction with topography on the scale in question. Soils
near coasts are typically high in salts transported by wind from the
ocean.
Mesoclimatology—the land–sea breeze circulation
It is the different properties of the water and land surface that ulti-
mately lead to the land–sea breeze phenomenon—one of the most stud-
ied features of all aspects of coastal climates. The circulation is
developed at mid and low latitude coasts on days when larger-scale wind
systems are not predominant. Anticyclonic weather in summer time
provides an ideal context. The circulation is found both on maritime
and freshwater coasts. At the surface of the Earth, the land–sea breeze
circulation takes the form of winds coming from water surface during
the day and from the land during the night. The surface of a water body
usually manifests only a small daily range of temperature. Oke (1987)
has outlined the four reasons for this. Solar radiation can easily pene-
trate a water surface and thus heats a deep layer and not just the surface
itself. Convection currents and mass transport in the water permits any
heat gain or loss to be spread throughout a large volume of water.
Evaporation from the water surface cools the water surface and helps
promote vertical mixing within the water itself. Water has a high ther-
mal capacity compared with soil and thus takes about three times the
amount of heat to raise its temperature by 1⬚C as for the same volume
of soil. Thus there is a reduced flow of sensible heat from the water sur-
face to the air compared with that over the land during the day. This
leads to a reduced warming rate of the air over the water compared with
that over the land surface. As described by Oke (1987), greater sensible
heat flow over the land in the morning heats the air columns more rap-
idly and to greater heights than over the water. The atmospheric pres-
sure well above the surface of the land is higher than at the same level
over the water. The resulting horizontal pressure gradient results in
airflow at upper levels toward and out over the water surface. This flow
ultimately produces a higher atmospheric pressure at the surface over
the water that, in turn, forms a cross-coastline flow of air from the water
to the land. This surface level flow is known as the sea or lake breeze.
The land breeze starts in the evening because of the greater contraction
and cooling of the air columns over the land compared with the sea.
Oke reports that the daytime sea breeze circulation has greater verti-
cal and horizontal extents and larger wind speeds than the land breeze
because it is driven by solar forcing. Typically, the sea breeze might have
a velocity of 2–5 m/s, a depth of 1–2 km, and extend inland as far as
30 km. The land breeze characteristically has a velocity of 1–2 m/s and
a smaller extent than the see breeze. If the sea breeze is forming in a
location where there is cold upwelling water, then the air formed over
this water may be cool enough to continue the sea breeze circulation all
through the night and not have a land breeze develop at all.
The sea breeze brings with it air that is cooler and more humid than
the air found over the land. This cool air plows underneath the warmer
air over the land and forms a localized cold front known as a sea breeze
front. The sea breeze front gradually advances inland during the day
and is associated with the development of sea breeze cumulus clouds.
These clouds are often taken by the counter (seawards) flow above the
surface and dissipate because they are decoupled from their moisture
source. Purdom (1976) showed that some parts of the front displayed
higher concentrations of convection than in others. He found that the
shape of the coastline in some places created stronger upward vertical
velocities. Kingsmill (1995) documented for summer months the colli-
sion of a sea breeze front traveling from the east side of the Florida
peninsular with a gust front traveling from the west. Interestingly, he
found that convective activity was most prominent just prior to the col-
lision of the two fronts rather than at the time when the two collided.
Oke (1987) has suggested that if the sea breeze travels far enough inland
then the influence of the Coriolis force will affect its direction and the
breeze will end up traveling parallel to the coast. A fairly deep penetra-
tion of the sea breeze front inland was observed in April 1999 at
Wokingham, which is 75 km inland from the southern coast of
England. The passage of the front was accompanied by an increase of
the dew point temperature of 4⬚C and a change of wind direction from
70⬚ to 210⬚ (Burton, 2000).
The climatology of sea (lake) and land breezes is highly variable
depending on the particular location being considered. A 15-year study
of Lake Michigan found that lake breezes tend to occur more frequently
along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan than along the western shore
(Laird and Kristovich, 1998). In addition, there was a gradual increase
in the number of lake breeze events from May through August, then a
slight decrease into September. The distribution of the frequency of
land breezes is similar to that of the lake breezes from May through
September, however, they occur about 10% less often than the daytime
lake breeze circulation. Typically, sea breeze activity is observed on the
south coast of England on 75 days during the year (Burton, 2000).
The land–sea breeze circulation has many practical implications. Oke
(1987) quotes one study in which tobacco leaves near the coastline of
Lake Erie were damaged by ozone that had been formed over the lake
from lakeshore city pollutants and then transported back over the shore
and tobacco crop by the lake breeze. In another study, quoted by
the same source, blister rust disease impacted pine trees 15–20 km from
the Lake Superior lakeshore. This impact was thought to be due to
spores from bushes located between the diseased trees and the lake and
transported out over the lake at night, back aloft by the counter airflow
of the land breeze, and then descending upon the pine trees. Michael
et al. (1998) showed that during spring and summer, sea breeze
circulations can strongly influence airport operations, air-quality,
energy utilization, marine activities, and infrastructure in the New York
city region. Here, the investigators found the geographic configuration
of region presents a special challenge to atmospheric prediction and
analysis. The New Jersey and Long Island coasts are approximately at
right angles to each other; additionally Long Island Sound separates
Long Island from the mainland of Connecticut. The various bodies of
water in the region (Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound, New York
Harbor, Jamaica Bay, etc.) have different surface temperatures. In
addition the urbanization of the New York area can modify atmos-
pheric flows.
Apart from land–sea breeze phenomena mesoscale wind fields in
general are very important in influencing the coastal and coastal ocean
processes. Considerable attention is being given, for example, to the
effect of wind on driving and directing freshwater plumes from rivers
entering the ocean. This has many implications for cross continental
shelf transport (Lohrenz, 1998).
Macroscale climatology
The location of the coast in the world determines in large part its over-
all climate. A first order classification of coasts on this scale would
include tropical windward coasts, tropical leeward coasts, mid- and
high-latitude windward coasts, mid- and high-latitude leeward coasts,
and ice-influenced coasts. Each of these categories would be modified
according to whether or not the hinterland of the coast contained
mountains. Examples of climate data from such categories are given in
Table C8. Walker et al. (1987) quote other ways of classifying coastal
climates.
Under the classification suggested here the extremes for high precipi-
tation are seen in the tropical and mid-latitude windward coasts with
mountains such as, respectively, on the island of Maui and other islands
in Hawaii, and the PNW of the United States. In the case of the north
coast of Maui, Hawaii, onshore moist tropical air is lifted up and cooled
against the mountains giving rise to some of the world’s highest precip-
itation values. Similar orographic effects occur at the coast of the PNW
but here it is moist, mid-latitude Pacific air that is uplifted often during
mid-latitude storms, which provides intense precipitation. The extreme
for low precipitation is found on tropical coasts on the western sides of
continents, as for example, on the coast of Peru. Air flows down the
mountain sides of the Andes mountains in Peru and northern Chile and
thus is warm and dry when it reaches the coast. More importantly this
coastline, and others in this category, has a cool ocean current offshore.
Upwelling of cold water gives rise to fog that is often the only source of
precipitation in this climate. Ice-ocean boundaries are not considered to
be coastlines by some (Walker et al., 1987) but since they form a dis-
tinctive interface on the Earth’s surface they will be briefly mentioned
here. Thus the “coasts” with the lowest temperatures are those formed
by the meeting of ice masses and the sea such as the Greenland and
Antarctic ice cap coasts. Such coasts are often marked by strong, kata-
batic winds blowing from the ice cap. Katabatic winds are winds formed
from cold, relatively dense air flowing down a topographic feature. The
climate of the other categories of coasts is intermediate between the
extremes described here.
One of the most important features of coastal macroclimate is the
storm. Both tropical storms (hurricanes) and mid-latitude storms or
cyclones heavily impact the geologic, biologic, and human dimensions
of a coast. Sometimes it is the presence of the coast itself that helps
cause or enhance the storms. Cyclogenesis is enhanced, for example, at
the east coast of the United States as upper-level disturbances cross the
Appalachian mountains and then cross the strong baroclinic zone of
the atmosphere near the coast. At the coast, the cyclones flow parallel to
the landmass in winter and a strong cooling of air on the landward side
leads to the formation of macroscale fronts (Rotunno, 1994).
Considerable time is spent researching the frequency and magnitude
of coastal storms. Waves generated by mid-latitude storms, for example,
 COASTAL CLIMATE 257

Table C8 Climate data for selected coastal areas

Mean annual Mean monthly Annual

Latitude Longitude Elevation temperature temperature precipitation
Tropical Location (Deg Min) (Deg Min) (m asla) (⬚C) Range (⬚C) (mm)

Windward
Mountains Hana, 20 48 N 156 13 W 2 23.4 21.7–24.9 2060
Hawaii
No Mountains Belem, 1 23 S 48 29 W 14 25.9 25.4–26.5 2770
Brazil
Leeward
Mountains Arica, 18 28 S 70 22 W 29 18.5 15.4–22.2 1
Chile
No Mountains Bonthe, 7 32 N 12 30 W 8 26.8 25.1–28.2 3718
Sierra Leone
Mid-latitude
Windward
Mountains Hokitika, 42 43 S 170 57 E 5 11 6.4–15.1 2721
New Zealand
No Mountains Bordeaux, 44 51 N 00 42 W 48 12.3 5.2–19.6 900
France
Leeward
Mountains Tokyo, 35 41 N 139 46 E 36 14.7 3.7–26.4 1563
Japan
No Mountains Boston, 42 22 N 71 01 W 9 10.8 ⫺0.9–23.2 1086
USA
High-latitude
Windward
Mountains Tromso, 69 39 N 18 57 E 114 3.3 ⫺2.7–12 1119
Norway
No Mountains Spitsbergen, 78 04 N 13 38 E 9 ⫺3.8 ⫺11.9 to 5.0 354
Norway
Leeward
Mountains Cape Tobinb 70 24 N 21 58 W 42 ⫺7.4 ⫺16.3–2.7 not available
Greenland
No Mountains Resolute, 74 43 N 94 59 W 64 ⫺16.2 ⫺31.8 to 4.6 131
Canada
Ice-influenced Nord, 81 36 N 16 40 W 35 ⫺16.5 ⫺31.0–3.9 not available
Greenland

Source: Data are from Liljequist (1970) except for Hana data which are from the Western Region Climate Center.
a
asl, above sea level.
b
Note that Cape Tobin also represents an ice-influenced coast.

are responsible for much of the coastal erosion that occurs along the
Atlantic coast of the United States. Dolan et al. (1988) found that at this
location, the five-month period December through April had 63% of all
the storms for the area. They also found a systematic increase between
1942 and 1984 in the number of storms occurring in May and October
resulted in the lengthening of the storm season and a more abrupt tran-
sition between the winter and summer storm regime. The authors were
able to construct a map of the mean cyclone track and frequency of all
the mid-latitude storms in their data set that produced significant waves
at Cape Hatteras. The storm track runs Southwest to Northeast follow-
ing the coast of the Carolinas and continuing out to sea at Cape
Hatteras. Locally the storms following this track are called Nor’easters
and they often do considerable damage to the coast. The secular varia-
tion of such storms is very important. Hayden (1981) discovered that in
the early years of the 20th century there was a trend toward increased
cyclone frequency over marine, as opposed to continental, areas of the
Atlantic US coast. He also found decadal changes in coastal cyclogene-
sis with a maximum in the record up to 1978 occurring in the 1950s.
It is possible that decadal changes in the frequency of storms whose
predominant wind directions is different can lead to marked geographic
effects. At Hog Island, Virginia there is a clear dynamic coastline
change pattern: erosion occurs on the north when accretion occurs on
the south, or vice versa. This kind of cyclic process of coastline changes
may repeat every 190 years on Hog Island. Currently, the southern part
of Hog Island just ended the erosion processes, while the northern part
just ended the accretion processes. It is hypothesized that the changing
geography of the island on this timescale may be related to the fre-
quency of storms that either have winds with a predominant northeast-
erly or southeasterly component.
Damage to coasts is also done by Tropical Cyclones that go by dif-
ferent names in different parts of the world—hurricanes, for example, in
the Atlantic and typhoons in Southeast Asia. For a tropical cyclone to
be called a hurricane there must be a sustained wind of 33.5 m/s (75
mph) or more. Such systems can have diameters exceeding 300 km. Very
large typhoons in the western North Pacific can have diameters up to
3,000 km and are sometimes called super-typhoons. Hurricanes are
placed into five categories in the United States. Category 1 has wind
speeds of 119–153 kph; category 2, 154–177 kph; category 3, 178–209
kph; category 4, 210–249 kph; and category 5, has wind speeds in excess
of 249 kph. In the following discussion, I will use the term hurricane as
being synonymous to tropical cyclone.
Hurricanes are features of coastal climate mainly during the late
summer and autumn seasons since they depend upon high Sea Surface
Temperatures (SSTs) as one factor in their initial formation. Hurricanes
impact the tropical, subtropical, and mid-latitude coastlines that are
mainly on the east coasts of continents or coasts that face south in the
Northern Hemisphere and vice versa. Hurricanes usually weaken after
passing the coastline and moving inland because they depend upon the
warm moist ocean surface for their energy. Besides high winds the
storms are noteworthy for bringing large quantities of rain to the coast.
Sometimes tornadoes are spawned as well. Hurricanes represent an
interesting interaction between meso- and macro-climatology since
their formation and track once formed is often a function of the
macroscale features such as upper atmosphere wind fields. Much
coastal damage is done by the interaction of the hurricane with the
ocean. The resulting formation of storm surges brings extra high flows
of ocean water over the coastline. The storm surge of a category 5
hurricane could be 5.5 m (18 ft) above normal sea level.
As with mid-latitude cyclones, interdecadal variability in frequency is
well marked in hurricanes. Hurricane frequency in the Atlantic
decreased from the 1890s to the 1920s and 1930s, increased during the
1940s to 1970s, and then decreased in the last part of the 20th century
258 COASTAL CLIMATE
(Riehl, 1987). The latter decrease coincided with the development of
much coastal property in the Southeastern coast of the United States.
Ice-influenced coastlines have their own interesting climatological
features besides the katabatic winds already mentioned. An interaction
between macro and mesoscale events gives rise to strips of open coastal
water surrounded by ice-covered ocean. The open water areas are called
polynyas and they typically open and close over the time period of a few
days. They are partly formed by coastal winds pushing the ice offshore
and are associated with a complex set of water and atmosphere density
and flow interactions (Chapman, 1999). The polynyas, sometimes called
leads, are large sources of sensible heat to the atmosphere in winter with
heat fluxes locally exceeding 500 W/m2. In summer, the comparatively
low albedo of the open water compared with that of nearby ice allows
the absorption of solar radiation that warms the water. The fractional
lead coverage in the Arctic Ocean as a whole is 1% in winter and greater
than 20% in late summer (Curry and Webster, 1999).
There are also phenomena of dynamic climatology existing where
coastlines are backed by mountain areas. Rotunno (1994) describes how
Kelvin waves may propagate along the basin-wall-like sides of an ocean
basin such as at the Pacific coast of North America. Here also strong
alongshore jet streams have been documented as a result of the moun-
tains. Phenomena that appear similar to flow separation in classical
fluid dynamics have been found to occur in the lee of capes and other
coastline salients.
Temporal climate variability in coastal climates
All coastal climates are subject to climate variability on a variety of
timescales. The presence of the ocean water has a moderating effect on
the climate of the nearby land at all the timescales. Climate variability at
coastlines is therefore usually less than that in interior continental land-
masses but can still be significant especially at the longer timescales. We
may examine an example from the PNW of the United States to demon-
strate the kinds of climatic variability that can occur at, or near, a coast
over a variety of timescales.
Major changes in the climate of the PNW from glacial to interglacial
have been described by Worana and Whitlock (1995). The extreme gla-
cial climate, a little inland from the coast, had a mean annual tempera-
ture that was likely to have been 7⬚C lower than today with the January
temperature 14⬚C lower. Conditions were also probably drier than
today with the Polar Front jet stream flowing well to the south. After
the last retreat of the ice the climate was warmer. Between 10,000 and
5,600 BP (Early Holocene) temperature is believed to have increased and
effective moisture decreased as summer droughts became a climatic fea-
ture associated with an expansion of the subtropical high pressure in
the eastern Pacific Ocean. On the next timescale down, some cyclic
coastal climatic behavior has been suggested. Sediment cores from
anoxic basins reveal a 60–70-year cycle of warming and cooling over the
past 1,500 years (US GLOBEC, 1994). The last cycle in this pattern,
which ecologically is associated with sardine dominance over anchovy
and vice versa, is seen with warming around 1925, cooling at 1948, and
a return to warming about 1977. Ware and Thompson (1991) regard the
60-year cycle in Southern California data as being consistent with their
belief that pelagic fishes are responding to a 40–60-year oscillation in
primary and secondary production that, in turn, is being forced by a
long-period oscillation in wind-induced upwelling. Trenberth (1993)
reviews coupled General Circulation Model (GCM) output and sug-
gests, under current projections of CO2 increase, the western coast of
North America is expected to warm by about 1.0–1.5⬚C by the year
2030 and that northern regions will warm more rapidly than southerly
regions. The hydrologic cycle is expected to intensify by about 10% lead-
ing to greater amounts of evaporation and precipitation. Trenberth
(1995) has also suggested that the relative frequency of the El Niño
mode in the past decade “may well be one of the primary manifesta-
tions of anthropogenic global warming.” There are also interdecadal
scale variations in PNW coastal climate. Mantua et al. (1996) described
a Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) in SSTs that has many implications
for salmon production. It has been shown that the PDO manifests itself
in coastal climate by giving rise to four distinct climatic periods. The
periods are 1896–1915, wet and cool, 1915–46, dry and warm; 1947–75,
wet and cool; and 1976–94, dry and warm. The dominant source of
variation on the quasi-quintennial scale is related to the El
Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Low Southern Oscillation
Index (SOI) values (El Niños) are correlated with reduced precipitation
(Redmond and Koch, 1991), snowpack and streamflow in the PNW
(Cayan and Webb, 1992). The PNW also tends to display warmer winter
temperatures and drier than usual winters under El Niños conditions
(Redmond and Koch, 1991). At the opposite end of the oscillation
Kahya and Dracup (1993) are among several investigators to demon-
strate that high precipitation and high streamflow values in the coastal
PNW are often associated with La Niña years. Superimposed on
ENSO-scale climatic variability is the variability on the interannual and
shorter timescales such as the passage of individual mid-latitude
cyclones and anticyclones.
Future research
There is an unlimited amount of work to do on coastal climates.
Working through the scales we may suggest the following areas of
important research. First, it would be interesting to document the dif-
ferences in the surface energy budget values across the different surfaces
of the subcomponents of the shoreline—barrier island, marsh, lagoon,
etc. Second, it is important to find out what are the interactions between
the mesoscale and macroscale events with respect to coastal climates.
How, for example, do sea breeze fronts affect other weather systems
occurring inland? Much more has to be found out about the effect of
varying SSTs on weather systems passing over them. This is particularly
the case where SSTs show a large range of different values over a short
distance. The Gulf Stream ocean current and areas of coastal upwelling
water are cases in point. There are many local dynamic features that
need investigation such as the trapping of atmospheric waves under
marine temperature inversions and low-level coastal atmospheric jet
streams. Interdecadal variation in the climatic variables of coastal cli-
mate must be established and, if possible, explained. This is important
because of the huge amount of coastal development that has happened
and will continue to occur worldwide. Finally, the affect of potential
global climate change on coastal climates over the next 100 years must
be studied. This topic has not received too much attention so far
because the global climate models tend to operate at a coarser spatial
scale than one that allows a coast to be specifically considered.
David Greenland
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Cross-references
Climate Patterns in the Coastal Zone
Coastal Temperature Trends
Desert Coasts
El Niño–Southern Oscillation
Geographical Coastal Zonality
Ice-Bordered Coasts
Meteorological Effects on Coasts
Sea Breeze Effects
Storm Surge
COASTAL CURRENTS
Introduction
Coastal currents are coherent water masses in motion that are found in
the region between the coastline and the edge of the continental shelf.
Coastal currents are important because the coastal zone is the place
where most nutrients, pollutants, and sediments are introduced into the
ocean, and where most larvae are generated and dispersed. Coastal cur-
rents are responsible for the transport and dispersal of these biological,
chemical, and geological tracers in the water. For example, predictions
of the advection and diffusion of spilled oil is dependent upon knowl-
edge of the currents near the coast. Coastal currents often are consid-
ered as being made up of two components, alongshore, or parallel to the
259
coast, and cross-shore, or perpendicular to the coast. Away from the
influence of inlets or river mouths, cross-shore flows are typically
weaker than alongshore flows, yet the larger gradients in cross-
shore properties make the cross-shore flows better at redistributing
those tracers. In addition, if a current is periodic, such as a tidal current,
even though it may be quite strong, it may not result in significant net
transport. A non-periodic event-driven current such as from a storm
may result in a significant net transport. Some currents that are persist-
ent and result in significant transport of water are named after an adja-
cent landmass, such as the California Current and the Kuroshio
Current. In general, currents are classified by the processes that form
them (Wright, 1995). Some of the most important currents that exist
near the coast outside of the surf zone include (1) wave-driven currents,
(2) tidal currents, (3) wind-driven currents, and (4) buoyant plumes.
Types of coastal currents
Wave-driven currents
Periodic water particle movements are associated with the passage of
wind-generated surface gravity waves. The back and forth currents due
to waves have a relatively short period, up to about 20 s. The horizontal
orbital velocity of water motion is a function of wave amplitude, wave
period, wavelength, and water depth (Komar, 1998). According to lin-
ear wave theory, the water motion under waves in deep water is circular,
with horizontal motions being comparable to vertical motions. The
diameter of the circular motion decreases exponentially with water
depth, so that in deep water, the influence of the surface wave can no
longer be felt. In intermediate water depths the motions are elliptical,
becoming smaller and flatter as the bottom is approached, and in shal-
low water the water motions are back and forth. In deep water, where
linear wave theory is best applied, there is no net transport of water due
to the passage of a wave. In shallow water, however, linear wave theory
breaks down. According to nonlinear Stokes theory, the velocity mag-
nitude is increased and the duration shortened under the crest of the
wave, and the velocity magnitude is decreased and the duration length-
ened under the trough. The result of this asymmetry in orbital motion
is a non-periodic current, or mass transport in the direction of wave
propagation, which is called Stokes drift. This mean current can be
large for large amplitude and short period waves, but is a small fraction
of the instantaneous wave speed, only a few centimeters per second for
long period swell.
Tidal currents
Tides and tidal currents in the ocean basins are produced by the inter-
action of a rotating earth with the gravitational forces of the moon and
the sun (see tides) (Mofjeld, 1976; Bowden, 1983). These oceanic tides
impinge on the continental shelf and produce sea-level oscillations and
currents in the coastal zone at tidal frequencies. The dominant fluctua-
tions are either semi-diurnal (twice a day), diurnal (once a day), or a
combination of the two. For example, on the East Coast of the United
States the tides are semi-diurnal, whereas on the Gulf Coast they are
diurnal. The difference is due to the interaction between the forcing and
the natural frequencies of the tidal basin. Most coastal environments
also have longer variations in the tides and tidal currents with periods of
about two weeks. These fortnightly variations result in stronger spring
tides and weaker neap tides. Tidal heights (up to a few meters) and tidal
currents (up to several tens of centimeters per second) are periodic, thus
they result in little net transport, despite excursions of several kilome-
ters per tide. The horizontal component of tidal currents on the conti-
nental shelf tends to change direction and amplitude during each tidal
cycle. An arrow denoting the current’s speed and direction would trace
an ellipse with each tidal period. If the direction of the current is
restricted by a boundary, as near a coast, then the ellipse will become
more elongated, with the long axis aligned parallel to the coast. The
speed of a tidal current may increase when the current goes around a
headland, passes through a restriction, or passes from deeper to shal-
lower water.
Wind-driven currents
The drag of the wind on the sea surface results in the formation of
waves and in the generation of a surface current. The wind-generated
current is strongest at the surface and decreases with depth. The magni-
tude of the surface current depends on the wind speed and on the
roughness of the sea surface due to waves, which effects the transfer of