CoPe Conference: Symposium on Far-Field Effects of Sea-Level Rise, Fayetteville, AR 2020

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This workshop engages a diverse group of interdisciplinary scientists and stakeholders to examine the consequences of climate change that impact both the coasts and the US Heartland. Issues to be discussed include ground and surface water flow and renewal, flooding, human migration, agriculture, transportation, and economic far-field effects. There will be live streaming of the symposium. Videos of workshop presentations will be archived on University of Arkansas servers so they can be made discoverable and available, post-meeting, to the broader public. Documents recording the results of the discussions and the ideas to be further considered will be generated and made publicly available. The symposium will be nationally advertised to attract a broad, diverse group of participants. Key speakers, who are experts, will introduce the relevant topics and challenges faced in the far-field to the assembly, generating a national discussion. Small breakout groups will drill more deeply into the subject matter. The symposium will include at least two Pacific Island communities that have identified the mid-continent of the US as a relocation zone when their islands are inundated by sea level rise and the populations are forced to move to higher ground. Broader impacts of the work have significant societal benefits in terms of how communities in the US Heartland will handle the influx of migrants, as well as how far-field community economies and environments, driven by changes in coastal geometries due to rising sea levels, will respond. Far-field effects of sea level rise including its physical, social, and economic impact on the US continental interior, which is remote from the coastal zone, are poorly constrained and understudied. This 3-day national symposium explores what is known about far-field issues related to sea level rise, to examine the challenges facing impacted communities, and to identify knowledge gaps and research priorities. Discussion topics include: (1) impacts of rising sea level on dynamics of continental river systems; (2) influences of rising sea-level on continental climate and the hydrologic cycle; (3) population dislocation and migration flows from the coastal zone to the continental interior; (4) economic impacts of resource flows (material and capital) from the continental interior to the coastal zone; (5) economic impacts of sea level rise on continental agriculture; and (6) economic impacts of sea level rise on continental river commerce. Flooding-of-record proportion in Nebraska, Arkansas, and throughout the Mississippi-Ohio-Missouri river, all of which are far-field locations, highlight impacts of altered continental hydrology on continental agriculture and river commerce, demonstrating the need for such a symposium.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.