Researchers advocate a simple, affordable and accurate technology to identify threats from sea-level rise

AlphaGalileo via the National University of Singapore: Potential for method to be used within a network of wetland monitoring programmes in Southeast Asia and globally for assessing shoreline security and stability

A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Edward L. Webb of the National University of Singapore (NUS) is calling for the global adoption of a method to identify areas that are vulnerable to sea-level rise. The method, which utilises a simple, low-cost tool, is financially and technically accessible to every country with coastal wet­lands. The team seeks to establish a network to coordinate the standardisation and management of the data, as well as to provide a platform for collaboration.

...Recognising that some wetlands may be able to keep up with sea-level rise, the research team argues that scientists must quantitatively evaluate which wetlands may persist in the future, and which may be most threatened by sea-level rise.

Although the science behind the tracking of sea-level is well-advanced, a large gap exists in the measurement of the biophysical processes underlying the vertical movement of coastal wetlands, so it remains unknown which coastal wetlands will be most vulnerable to future sea-level rise. Collection of relevant data across global wetlands is critical to informing not only local policies, but to generating more realistic regional-level predictions to inform costal management and policy.

In a bid to address this gap, the research team, comprising members from NUS and the United States Geological Survey, argues for the widespread adoption of a standardised, simple and inexpensive method to measure the vertical movement of coastal wetland surface and its constituent processes that determine whether a wetland can keep pace with sea-level rise. The method utilises a rod surface elevation table (RSET), in which a benchmark rod is drilled vertically through the soil down to the base of the mudflat. A portable horizontal arm is attached at a fixed point to measure the distance to the substrate surface. The RSET is thus a permanent reference point to measure the rate and direction of the mudflat’s surface movement. ...

Nei Lingding Island, view from Hong Kong, shot by Minghong, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license