Between Dec 19, 2024 and Jan 2, 2025, datasets can be submitted to DRUM but will not be processed until after the break. Staff will not be available to answer email during this period, and will not be able to provide DOIs until after Jan 2. If you are in need of a DOI during this period, consider Dryad or OpenICPSR. Submission responses to the UDC may also be delayed during this time.

Browsing by Subject "sea level rise"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Complex retreat behavior in experimental barrier island response to base level rise
    (2019-08) Rodgers, Nicholas
    Barrier islands act as natural barriers between the ocean and the mainland. These islands create protected, low energy environments behind them that are important ecological and economic hubs. Barrier islands are naturally low-laying features and are susceptible to drowning from sea level rise. However, previous work suggests that barrier islands can retreat upslope to keep up with sea level rise and maintain their subaerial extent. To explore this idea, we performed physical experiments where barrier islands were subjected to a constant relative sea level rise (RSL) and constant wave environment. We tracked the islands through time with overhead images and periodic laser elevation scans. Time series of island location show that the islands did not retreat at constant rates through the transgression. Rather, overall long-term retreat occurred through a “stick-slip” motion comprising stationary intervals alternating with backward steps. The source of this complex behavior is a cycling between two morphologies: one where an island has a developed ridge and another where no ridge is present. Sea level rise allows waves to overtop the island and erode the ridge that once kept the waves at bay. That sediment is deposited behind the island, moving the barrier landward. Waves continue to push sediment back towards the mainland until the island becomes too wide for waves to carry sediment all the way across the island. This begins a process of backfilling the overwash fan, eventually creating a new ridge. These simple experiments support previous theoretical suggestions that periodic overwash is a key part of a barrier island’s behavior during a transgression, and that this can lead to punctuated retreat even when RSL rise is steady.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Rising Seas: Representations of Antarctica, Climate Change, and Sea Level Rise in U.S. Newspaper Coverage
    (2024-08-23) Bruns, C.J.; Huffman, D.R.; Neff, P.D.; Timm, K.M.F.; Roop, H.A.
    A changing Antarctica carries large implications for global climate systems and sea level rise. However, how climate change is altering Antarctica and how these changes and their relevance are communicated in news media remains unclear. This study explores how Antarctica, climate change, and sea level rise are reported in news media by conducting a content analysis of Antarctic climate coverage in seven U.S. newspapers between March 2007 and December 2022. Findings suggest that newspaper reporting of Antarctica’s changing climate is limited, and that framed coverage about Antarctica, climate change, and sea level rise primarily emphasizes scientific and ecological implications. Data used to conduct this study include: 1) A spreadsheet detailing article metadata for the 987 texts analyzed in this study. Details include the headline, outlet, author, data of publication, and ID number assigned to each article. 2) A spreadsheet containing the results of a content analysis of the 987 texts examined in this study. Analytical reliability was statistically assessed using a two-person inter-coder reliability process.