This chapter reports on a pilot study to determine the shoreline impact from accelerated rises in sea level due to anthropogenic (man induced) factors. The methods developed have been applied to the coastal city of Charleston, South Carolina, to determine the effects of various accelerated sea level rise scenarios for the years 2025 and 2075.

In the last few decades, there have been numerous studies on the trends and rates of both eustatic and local sea level changes. Eustatic changes are global in nature due to a general rise of the sea level compared to local changes for a specific area due to the relative rise or subsidence of the land surface with respect to a stationary, general sea level. There has been an overall rise in sea level of about 40 m (130 ft) since the last glacial epoch, called the Wisconsin ice age, which ended about 14,000 years ago. From 7,000 to 3,000 years ago, sea level along the east coast of the United States rose at a rate of about 0.3 cm (0.1 in) per year (Kraft, 1971). Studies of sea level over the last two centuries have estimated that global sea level is rising at a rate of 0.10-0.12 cm/yr (0.04-0.05 in/yr). For the Charleston case study area, Hicks and others (1978, 1983) have estimated that the total sea level rise since 1922 has been 0.25 cm/yr (0.1 in/yr).*