Growth of Coastal Population: Likely Exposure to Sea Level Rise and Associated Storm Surge Flooding in the Sultanate of Oman
Abstract
Coastal zones are densely populated than the hinterland and exhibit higher rates of population growthand urbanization. As this trend is expected to continue into the future in the case of Oman as well since more
population is living the along coast. On the other hand, this population has likely exposure to coastal hazards
including sea-level rise and associated storm surge flooding effects.
This study investigated extent of inundation to sea level rise and built up areas exposure to possible
storm surge flooding cross governorates at different scenarios. Use of remote sensing data and GIS
applications employed for the assessments. Results show that the coastal area of the Governorates of Al-
Wusta and South Al Sharquiya will be highly exposed to the most likely tropical cyclones since these areas are
characterized by a flat topography.
Further, the results of assessment show that Oman is highly vulnerable to climate change-induced sea
level rise (SLR). At the national scale, nearly 400 square kilometer of total land area is projected to be
inundated under the smallest SLR scenario. Overall, the assessment results highlight that Oman is vulnerable
to coastal flooding and SLR therefore policies and adaptive planning for building resilient coastal communities
are essential for the future.
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[15] Thumerer, T., Jones, A.P., and Brown, D. 2000. A GIS based coastal management system for climate change associated flood risk assessment on the east coast of England. International Journal of GIS, 14: 265-281.
[16] Wong, P.P. et al. 2014. Coastal Systems and Low- Lying Areas. In: Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir TE et al., editors on Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
*** International Panel on Climate Change - IPCC. 2012. Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
*** NCSI. 2015. Population statistics bulletin. Muscat (Oman): The National Center for Statistics and information.
*** Oman National Hydrographic Office. 2012. Oman Maritime Book Sultanate of Oman, Saudi Arabia, 250.
*** UN Atlas. 2010. Atlas report on the Oceans. http://www.oceansatlas.org/servlet/CDSServlet?status= ND0xODc3JjY9ZW4mMzM9KiYzNz1rb3M~) accessed on 16th May 2016.
Published
2016-11-14
How to Cite
AL-AWADHI, Talal et al.
Growth of Coastal Population: Likely Exposure to Sea Level Rise and Associated Storm Surge Flooding in the Sultanate of Oman.
Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, [S.l.], v. 7, n. 2, p. 333-339, nov. 2016.
ISSN 2068-7729.
Available at: <https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/341>. Date accessed: 04 dec. 2024.
Section
Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism
Keywords
risk assessment; climate change; sea level rise; flooding hazard; Oman
Copyright© 2024 The Author(s). Published by ASERS Publishing 2024. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of CC-BY 4.0 license.