Climate Change and the Evolution and Fate of the Tangier Islands of Chesapeake Bay, USA
Open accessAbstract
Climate change and associated sea level rise (SLR) are already impacting low-lying coastal areas, including islands, throughout the world. Many of these areas are inhabited, many will need to be abandoned in coming decades as SLR continues. We examine the evolution (1850-2013) of the last inhabited offshore island in Virginia waters of Chesapeake Bay USA, the Tangier Islands. Three SLR scenarios, a low, mid and high, were considered. Since 1850, 66.75% of the islands landmass has been lost. Under the mid-range SLR scenario, much of the remaining landmass is expected to be lost in the next 50 years and the Town will likely need to be abandoned. The high SLR scenario will accelerate the land loss and subsidence, such that the Town may need to be abandoned in as few as 25 years. We propose a conceptual plan that would significantly extend the lifespan of the islands and Town.
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Displacement from low-lying islands and river deltas will be a widespread issue within a few decades.
“Displacement from these areas will be a widespread issue within a few decades [36–38].”
From Climate Change, Migration, and Civil Strife. (2020) · cites this paper as [37]
The Abstract (page unavailable) says many inhabited low-lying coastal areas worldwide, including islands, will need to be abandoned in coming decades. That supports the timing and broad displacement concern, but the paper does not specifically address river deltas. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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- Authors
- Schulte, D. M., Dridge, K. M., & Hudgins, M. H.
- Affiliations
- United States Army Corps of Engineers (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schulte, David M.
- ORCID
- Schulte, David M.
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2015-12-10
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 17890-17890
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4675185
- OpenAlex
- W2191089889
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 0.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Engineer Research and Development Center
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Earth-Surface Processes › Coastal and Marine Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
- Keywords
- sea level rise, coastal land loss, subsidence, climate change impacts, Chesapeake Bay
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