Sandy beaches can survive sea-level rise

Abstract

It has been asserted by Vousdoukas et al., that climate change, in particular global sea-level rise (SLR), poses a threat to the existence of sandy beaches. The authors used global data bases of sandy beaches, bathymetry, wave conditions and SLR to drive a simple model based on the ‘Bruun Rule’ to quantitatively evaluate shoreline retreat. To this modelled retreat, they add a background ambient trend in shoreline dynamics and the modelled response of an extreme storm, that together contribute c. 20% of the shoreline retreat. When retreat was more than 100 m by 2100, they declared those beaches extinct. This is an incorrect and potentially damaging finding that must be repudiated along with the associated implications.