Why adapt to climate change?

Connected to the Sea

With roots in whaling, shipping, and fishing, Woods Hole has been a bustling working waterfront and marine commerce hub for more than two centuries. Today, Woods Hole is a world-renown center for scientific research and education, and a charming residential and commercial village that attracts both summer residents and tourists. Along with its coastline businesses and homes, the major marine research institutions in Woods Hole have significant waterfront infrastructures, providing necessary easy access to the sea.

Challenges

Relative sea level increased by approximately 10 inches in Woods Hole between 1932 and 2020, according to NOAA. This trend is predicted to accelerate as the ocean expands due to global warming and glacial ice melt.

Woods Hole’s vulnerability to sea-level rise, storm surge inundation, and habitat changes, such as marshland transforming to open water, was assessed in detail in 2020 by the Woods Hole Group. A copy of the report is here.

Climate impacts were projected over 10, 40, and 60-year time horizons. By 2070, the report predicts, most of the village will be inundated by flooding on an annual basis. The report made it clear that resiliency planning to protect village infrastructure and habitat needed to begin immediately. Thus, the ResilientWoodsHole initiative was born.

Sea-level rise and storm surge present both existential and operational threats to Woods Hole village’s marine science facilities as well as to the commercial and residential infrastructure within the village. Often it is not viable or sustainable to adapt assets to sea-level rise and/or storm surge in a vacuum. It can also be more efficient and have greater benefit to deploy adaptation solutions on a wider scale to address shared risk rather than addressing each specific flood vulnerability on a case-by-case basis.