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The Chesapeake Bay (CB) region of the United States is experiencing one of the fastest rates of relative sea-level rise on the Atlantic coast of the United States. However, future projections of sea-level rise used to assess coastal flooding hazards and exposure throughout the 21st century often lack an accurate estimate of coastal Vertical Land Motion rate. This poses a significant challenge to present and future management efforts and plans as it undermines flooding in coastal communities. In this work we devise a framework to combine space-based techniques and ground measurement to obtain vertical land motion to assess hundred years flooding hazards due to Sea Level Rise, storm surge, and land subsidence in the Chesapeake Bay of the United States. By the year 2100, the total inundated areas from SLR and subsidence are projected to be 454-600 \(\text{km}^{2}\) for very low to very high greenhouse gas scenario 1-1.9 to 5-8.5 respectively and 343-627 \(\text{km}^{2}\) only from SLR. The effect of storm surges based on Hurricane Isabel can increase the inundated area to 849-1117 km2 under different VLM and SLR scenarios. The results provided here inform policymakers when assessing hazards associated with global climate changes and local factors in CB for disaster resilience.
Future projections of sea-level rise used to assess coastal flooding hazards and exposure throughout the 21st century and devise risk mitigation efforts often lack an accurate estimate of coastal Vertical Land Motion (VLM) rate, driven by anthropogenic and non-climate factors in addition to climatic factors. The Chesapeake Bay (CB) region of the United States is experiencing one of the fastest rates of relative sea-level rise on the Atlantic coast of the United States. This study uses a combination of space-borne Interferometric SAR (InSAR), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Light Detecting and Ranging (LIDAR) datasets, available National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) long term tide gauge data, and sea-level rise projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), AR6 WG1 to quantify the regional rate of RSLR and future flooding hazards for the years 2030, 2050, and 2100. By the year 2100, the total inundated areas from SLR and subsidence are projected to be 454-600\(\text{km}^{2}\) for Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) 1-1.9 to 5-8.5 respectively and 343-627 \(\text{km}^{2}\) only from SLR. The effect of storm surges based on Hurricane Isabel can increase the inundated area to 849-1117 km2 under different VLM and SLR scenarios. We present that accurate estimates of VLM rate, such as those obtained here, are essential to revise IPCC projections and obtain accurate maps of coastal flooding and inundation hazards. The results provided here inform policymakers when assessing hazards associated with global climate changes and local factors in CB, required for developing risk management and disaster resilience plans.