Figure 8.4

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services
William V. Sweet, Jeffrey L. Payne

This figure appears in chapter 8 of the Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II report.

Natural and nature-based infrastructure habitats include seagrass meadows (not shown), (a) coastal wetlands, (b) barrier islands, (­c) beaches, (d) corals, (e) oyster reefs, and (f) dunes. Each of these habitats provides storm and erosion risk reduction by causing waves to break or slow as they roll over the ecosystem. Waves slow down, for example, as they flow across the rough surfaces and crests of reef ecosystems; likewise, water decelerates as it pushes through the vegetation of wetland ecosystems. This slowing decreases wave height and energy as the wave proceeds through or across each ecosystem, reducing the amount of erosion that the wave would otherwise cause. Photo credits: (a) Gretchen L. Grammer, NOAA National Ocean Service; (b) Erik Zobrist, NOAA Restoration Center; (­c) NOAA; (d) LCDR Eric Johnson, NOAA Corps.; (e) Jonathan Wilker, Purdue University; (f) Ann Tihansky, USGS.

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This figure was created on June 23, 2017.

This figure was submitted on November 23, 2018.

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