Excellence in Research: Identification of absolute sea level rise and land subsidence from long-term tide gauge records along coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay

全球变暖导致全球海平面上升，原因是冰川和冰盖融化的水以及海水的膨胀。因此，墨西哥湾和切萨皮克湾这两个全球热点地区的洪水风险和生态系统变化加剧，那里的海平面上升大约是全球平均海平面上升的两到四倍。国家沿海社区对过去和未来海平面上升不断变化的环境需求的可持续性和复原力，需要从国家海岸的长期验潮仪记录中进行识别。这项研究将开发一种创新的方法，以准确地识别和预测任何海岸的海平面上升。拟议的研究活动将使人们更好地了解海平面上升及其对沿海社区的不利影响，从而激励科学家和工程师面对海平面上升造成的各种环境挑战。为了传播新的知识和研究成果，该计划计划向摩根州立大学土木工程专业的K-12学生、三个本科课程的大学生和四个土木工程研究生课程的研究生讲授或讲授研究成果。每年将聘请一名博士后研究员和一名研究生参与拟议的研究活动。海平面上升包括由于地球气候系统变化而导致的绝对海平面上升，以及由于地球地质系统变化而造成的地面沉降。后者包括基岩构造沉陷、基岩蠕变、可压缩滨海含水层系统地下流体抽出引起的原生固结沉陷和同一含水层系统地质复岩压力引起的蠕变沉陷四个亚组分。由绝对海平面上升和地面下沉的四个子部分组成的新的相对海平面上升分段方程可以帮助科学家和工程师确定和预测相对海平面上升值，以便进行必要的适应性工程设计和施工，以提高沿海社区抵御海平面上升和其他自然灾害的能力。为此，该项目旨在提高公众对海平面上升对墨西哥湾和切萨皮克湾沿海地区环境可持续性和沿海社区复原力的重要性的认识，并促进对代表性不足的少数群体的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育。该项目由地貌学和土地利用动力学(GLD)计划和历史上的黑人学院和大学-卓越研究计划(HBCU-EIR)共同资助，并得到NSF地球科学总监的综合和合作教育与研究(ICER)基金的支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Global warming causes worldwide sea level rising due to a combination of meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets and expansion of ocean water. As a result, flood risk and ecosystem change are elevated in the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay, two of the globe’s hot spots, where the sea level rise is about two to four times greater than global mean sea level rise. The sustainability and resiliency of the nation’s coastal communities to evolving needs of the environments in response to past and future sea level rise necessitates identification of it from long-term tide gauge records along the nation’s coasts. This research will develop an innovative methodology to accurately identify and predict sea level rise along any coasts. The proposed research activities will impart an improved understanding of sea level rise and its adverse impacts on coastal communities, which thereby inspires scientists and engineers to face various environmental challenges caused by sea level rise. In order to disseminate new knowledge and research findings, the program plans to deliver lectures or talks with research results to K-12 students, college students in three undergraduate courses, and graduate students in four graduate courses in Civil Engineering at Morgan State University. One postdoctoral researcher and one graduate student will be hired each year to participate in the proposed research activities.Gauged sea level rise comprises of absolute sea level rise, in light of the Earth’s climate system change, and land subsidence, due to the Earth’s geological system change. The latter change includes four sub-components: tectonic subsidence from basement rocks, basement rock creep, primary consolidation subsidence due to subsurface fluid withdrawal from compressible coastal aquifer systems and creep subsidence due to geohistorical overburden pressure of the same aquifer system. A novel piecewise equation of relative sea level rise comprising of absolute sea level rise and four sub-components of land subsidence can help scientists and engineers identify and project relative sea level rise value for adaptive engineering design and construction necessary with a view to increase the resilience of coastal communities against sea level rise as well as other natural hazards. To these ends, this project aims to raise public awareness of the importance of sea level rise in environmental sustainability and coastal community resilience in the coastal areas of the Mexico Gulf and the Chesapeake Bay and promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for underrepresented minorities. This project is co-funded by the Geomorphology and Land-use Dynamics (GLD) Program and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Excellence in Research (HBCU-EiR) Program, along with support from Integrative and Collaborative Education and Research (ICER) funds of the NSF Geosciences Directorate.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.