Hampton Roads is an urban area seeking solutions to the effects of climate change and sea level rise. Old Dominion University is a major research university in this urban coastal environment that can help provide leadership and solutions. Some facts:

• local relative sea level is rising +4.43 mm/year (+1.45 ft/century, 1.7 inches per decade,
• the opening of the Arctic Ocean to shipping will affect Hampton Roads economy,
• new harmful species (e.g. ticks, mosquitoes, ballast water pathogens) are migrating to our region.

Researchers at ODU and regional policymakers seem to agree:

• climate change and sea level rise (CC/SLR) is a challenge for this region and the university does have a distinct and important role in meeting that challenge, especially as it applies to an urban coastal environment.
• this can be a productive area of research and education for faculty and students.
• through this initiative, the university can play a positive role in the region, nation and world.

The Old Dominion University Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative is led by Larry Atkinson, Slover Professor of Oceanography, Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and an affiliate of ODU's Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography. Atkinson's research has focused on various aspects of the coastal ocean including descriptive physical oceanography, nutrient fluxes, gas exchange and more recently wind energy and climate change including sea level rise.

References

• Atkinson, Larry, 2011. Executive Summary: Old Dominion University's Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative, SLR Research Forum. ODU Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative: Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography
• Bryant, L. Preston, Jr. December 15, 2008. Governor's Commission on Climate Change. Final Report: A Climate Change Action Plan. VA Department of Natural Resources, Richmond, VA. http://www.sealevelrisevirginia.net/docs/homepage/CCC_Final_Report-Final_12152008.pdf
• Boon, John D., 2012. Evidence of Sea Level Acceleration at U.S. and Canadian Tide Stations, Atlantic Coast, North America. 28 J. Coastal Research 1437, 1437 (2012), available at http://www.jcronline.org/doi/pdf/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00102.1;
• Ezer, Tal and William Bryce Corlett, 2012. Is Sea Level Rise Accelerating in the Chesapeake Bay? A Demonstration of a Novel New Approach for Analyzing Sea Level Data, 39 Geophysical Research Letters L19605 (2012), available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2012GL053435/full.
• Mitchell, Molly, et al., 2013. Recurrent Flooding Study for Tidewater Virginia, Virginia Senate Document No. 3 (2013). available at http://ccrm.vims.edu/recurrent_flooding/Recurrent_Flooding_Study_web.pdf.
• Stiles, William A., Jr., Molly Mitchell, and Troy Hartley. Forthcoming 2013. The Policy Climate for Climate Change in Virginia: Overview of Adaptation Policy, Planning and Implementation Landscape. Sea Grant Law and Policy Journal. 5(2).
• Data, 39 GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS L19605 (2012), available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2012GL053435/full.