Thursday, March 31, 2011

Coastal communities have new tool to study sea levels

Judy Benson in the Day (Connecticut): Old Saybrook Selectman William Peace saw the immediate utility in being able to visualize the best projections available on the effects of rising sea levels on his town, both for the present and for future decades.

"We're considering reconstructing our police station. I'd like to see the worst case scenario for 2050, when the bonds would be paid off," he said, addressing his request to Nathan Frohling, lower Connecticut River program director for the Nature Conservancy, and Ben Gilmer, conservation geographer for the conservancy's Global Marine Initiative, during a demonstration Wednesday of a new online tool to help towns prepare for climate change effects.

…According to the conservancy, a free online tool can help town officials "analyze the ecological, social and economic impacts" of sea-level rise on their communities and will offer a menu of potential responses. Peace was among more than 50 officials at the workshop from towns along the Connecticut coast, from Fairfield County to New London County, who came to learn how to use the tool. Locally, Old Lyme, Groton, Waterford, Stonington, Salem and East Lyme were represented….

The Amtrak bascule bridge between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook in the open position, shot by Denimadept, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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