Coastal Climate Adaptation in Prince Edward Island

This paper presents an overview of work being undertaken with the Province of PEI on assessment of coastal vulnerability to climate change and exploring potential mitigation measures. This work involves mapping of coastal... [ view full abstract ]

This paper presents an overview of work being undertaken with the Province of PEI on assessment of coastal vulnerability to climate change and exploring potential mitigation measures. This work involves mapping of coastal hazards around the Island under both present-day conditions and under expected climate change scenarios. This work involves several site-specific case studies across the Island and the development of new techniques for addressing the joint probabilities
of tides, storm surge, storm waves and relative sea level rise.

One unique aspect of this work is the construction of a demonstration project at Souris, where a pair of intertidal reef breakwaters have been built using Island sandstone. Completed in the winter of 2018, preliminary results show that the structures are starting to build a sand beach in their lee. Ongoing monitoring over the coming years will document the performance of this system and guide future design works.

Comparisons are being made between the field observations (RTK surveys and drone aerial surveys) and performance predictions based on computer modelling.

The presentation will provide preliminary results on coastal flood hazards and shoreline change in response to changing climates and discuss the associated engineering and planning challenges.