GCRI · Oceans and Coasts
Oceans and Coasts
Oceans, coastal ecosystems and built shoreline resilience at the junction of science and development. Oceans and Coasts is an established platform of The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation.
- STEM methods
- 7
- Canonical methods this field applies
- Topics
- 8
- Subject pages in the field
- Counterparts
- 7
- Platforms in shared fields across the network
- Report series
- 2
- Reports series it contributes to
The areas of oceans and coasts this platform takes on.
Oceans and Coasts studies the sea and the shore as one system: rising seas and coastal floods, marine ecosystems, fisheries and the people who depend on them, ports and maritime infrastructure, ocean observation, the blue economy, small islands and marine pollution. Its pages set out the observations, models and standards behind ocean and coastal evidence, with every value labelled by its evidence and every limit stated. It prepares evidence; coastal, fisheries and maritime authorities and communities decide.
Sea level and coastal flood
Rising mean sea level, storm surge, waves and the coastal floods they cause, now and under projections.
Marine ecosystems
Coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, kelp and open-ocean life under warming, acidification and deoxygenation.
Fisheries and livelihoods
Wild fisheries and aquaculture, the stocks they depend on and the communities who fish.
Ports and maritime infrastructure
Ports, coastal roads, defences and shipping exposed to sea-level rise and storms.
Ocean observation
Floats, buoys, tide gauges, ships and satellites that measure the ocean and share the data.
Blue economy
Economic activity that depends on the ocean, from shipping and tourism to offshore energy.
Island resilience
Small island states and communities facing sea-level rise, cyclones and dependence on imports.
Marine pollution
Plastics, nutrients, oil and chemicals entering the sea from land, ships and rivers.
Coastal adaptation pathways.
The screen a team would use to follow this field: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Coastal adaptation pathways
Coastal zone A · Sea level scenario set
Flood extent by scenario
illustrative coastline
Relative sea level
Adaptation pathways
| Dune nourishment | 0.4 | 1 | Raise seawall | Overtopping twice in 5 yr |
| Raise seawall | 0.8 | 9 | Managed realignment | Seawall at design limit |
| Managed realignment | 1.0 | 15 | Relocate assets | Community decision |
The questions this field works on.
Sea level and coastal flood
Shoreline exposure and changing sea levels.
TopicMarine ecosystems
Habitats, trophic systems and ecosystem condition.
TopicFisheries and livelihoods
Fish stocks, food security and local economies.
TopicPorts and maritime infrastructure
Coastal transport and continuity.
TopicOcean observation
Marine sensing and data limitations.
TopicBlue economy
Development, access and ecological safeguards.
TopicIsland resilience
Island connectivity and energy, water, food systems.
TopicMarine pollution
Contaminants, plastics and ecosystem harm.
Hazard to loss: the exceedance curve.
How often a given loss is exceeded, from a Gumbel hazard, a lognormal fragility and a protection standard; the area under the curve is the average annual loss. Teaching model with stated illustrative values, not a prediction. The map on this page shows Pacific Island states; the model itself is not tied to a place.
Controls
- Typical annual peak gust (location)
- 24.0 m/s peak gust
- Spread of extremes (scale)
- 7.00 m/s peak gust
- Intensity at which half the value is lost
- 62.0 m/s peak gust
- Dispersion of vulnerability
- 0.22
- Share of value in the hazard footprint
- 40%
- Protection standard (return period)
- 50 years
Readouts
- Average annual loss
- 0.30% of value
- Loss at 1 in 100 years
- 13.1% of value
- Loss at 1 in 250 years
- 20.7% of value
- Intensity at 1 in 100 years
- 56.20 m/s peak gust
Numbers, methods and sources
| Return period (years) | Intensity (m/s peak gust) | Loss (% of value) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16.08 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 26.33 | 0.00 |
| 4 | 31.96 | 0.00 |
| 7 | 36.87 | 0.00 |
| 13 | 41.50 | 0.00 |
| 24 | 46.00 | 0.00 |
| 44 | 50.44 | 0.00 |
| 82 | 54.85 | 11.55 |
| 154 | 59.23 | 16.71 |
| 287 | 63.61 | 21.85 |
| 536 | 67.98 | 26.49 |
| 1,000 | 72.35 | 30.34 |
Methods
- Gumbel extreme-value hazard Gumbel (1958), Statistics of Extremes, Columbia University Press
- Lognormal fragility (vulnerability) FEMA (2003), HAZUS-MH Technical Manual
- Exceedance-probability curve and average annual loss Grossi and Kunreuther (2005), Catastrophe Modeling, Springer
- Levee effect Di Baldassarre and others (2013), Socio-hydrology, HESS 17
- Uncertainty fan (parameter Monte Carlo) Spiegelhalter, Pearson and Short (2011), Visualising uncertainty about the future, Science 333
- One-at-a-time sensitivity (tornado) Saltelli and others (2008), Global Sensitivity Analysis: The Primer, Wiley
Data
The model runs on the teaching values set by the controls. To calibrate it for a place, read it against these admitted layers and series, which this page’s map can draw:
- Rivers Natural Earth
- Urban extents Natural Earth
- Cities Natural Earth
- Earthquakes M4.5+, past week (USGS) U.S. Geological Survey · register usgs.earthquake.summary-feeds
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG) NASA GPM IMERG Early · register nasa.gibs.context-live-layers
- River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo) Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), Copernicus GloFAS · register open-meteo.public-pages
- Built-up and settlement extent, 2010 (HBASE, Landsat) CIESIN/Columbia, NASA SEDAC HBASE · register sedac.context-urban-layers
Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium
- Experiments Labs
- Built in Oceans and Coasts in Foundry
- Tested at Oceans and Coasts in Universe
- Codified in Climate and Earth Systems in Standards
- Published in Oceans and Coasts in Reports
- Taught in Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences in Academy
What Oceans and Coasts does.
Ocean and coastal risk is the potential for harm to people, ecosystems and economies from ocean change and coastal hazards. Oceans and Coasts covers sea-level rise and coastal floods, marine ecosystems, fisheries and livelihoods, ports, ocean observation, the blue economy, small islands and marine pollution. Coastal, fisheries and maritime authorities and communities decide.
Its community
Marine scientists; coastal planners; fisheries experts; port specialists.
Its methods
Marine observations; coastal inundation; fisheries and habitat evidence.
Its outputs
Coastal risk atlas methods; marine dependency briefs; research cases.
Model Oceans and Coasts as a system. Run the cascade.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Oceans and coasts risk standards: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.
Hazards
- Sea-level rise
- Storm surge
- Coastal erosion
- Heatwave
- Ocean acidification
- Harmful algal bloom
- Extreme fire weather (set off downstream)
- Wildfire (set off downstream)
- Heat-driven grid stress (set off downstream)
- Agricultural drought (set off downstream)
- Flash drought (set off downstream)
- Snow drought (set off downstream)
- Ground-level ozone episode (set off downstream)
- Meteorological drought (set off downstream)
- River flood (set off downstream)
- Coastal flood (set off downstream)
- Estuary flood (set off downstream)
- Mass displacement (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
- Oceans and coasts risk standards
- Supply chain and trade risk Cascade
- Food and agriculture risk standards Cascade
- Climate risk standards Common driver and feedback
- Cities and urban systems risk standards Exposure
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-1The UNI and the artefact catalogue (grammar v0.2: domain, sector, region and environment segments)NS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)NS-3bDataset and product metadata profile (STAC, DCAT, PROV-O)NS-5Figure, map and visualisation standard (with the UI/UX kit)NS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NRS-X3Oceans and coasts riskNRS-H11Hazard family: Coastal and sea-level hazards (NHS-1 water.coastal)NRS-H79Hazard family: Mental health crises (NHS-1 health.mental)NRS-H12Hazard family: Ocean-state extremes (NHS-1 water.ocean-state)NRS-H67Hazard family: Ocean circulation and marine tipping (NHS-1 planet.ocean-tipping)NRS-K18Domain pack profile: Oceans coastal (DOMAIN-018)
Observation
- Copernicus Marine Service ocean products (listed for reference)
- Coral Reef Watch daily 5 km heat stress products (listed for reference)
- PSMSL tide gauge mean sea level records (listed for reference)
- GEBCO global bathymetric grid (listed for reference)
- Argo float profiles (listed for reference)
- Average marine acidity (pH) measured at agreed suite of representative sampling stations
- Index of coastal eutrophication and floating plastic debris density
- Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to GDP, including damage to critical infrastructure
Example geography
- Pacific Island states: 150 hexagonal cells
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
- Surface air temperature, daytime (AIRS), NASA GIBS
What Oceans and Coasts studies, and who governs the sea.
Oceans and Coasts, studies the sea and the shore as one system: sea level and coastal floods, marine ecosystems, fisheries, ports and ocean observation. Coastal, fisheries and maritime authorities and communities decide; the platform prepares evidence and takes no position on maritime boundaries.
Sea-level and flood layers shown here are illustrations unless marked as released, and a boundary on a map implies no position on any maritime claim.
Coupled risk, applied response.
The sectors coastal storm surge touches and how strongly they depend on each other: what a study has to observe and model together.
Choose a context
Sectors · Coastal storm surgeStress
Pillars · Coastal storm surgeKPI
In this contextDependence or handoff, heavier is strongerOutside this context
Programme yearAll phases
Context
Coastal storm surge
Mangroves and dunes absorb the surge; where they are gone, ports, substations and water intakes take it.
W · E · I · F · H · B
Risk
- Sectors
- 5 of 6
- Relations
- 10 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.64 share of total
Hover a corner, a line or a row to trace it across both sides.
Route
Applied to coastal storm surge
L · F · U · S · R · A
Response
- Pillars
- 5 of 6
- Handoffs
- 12 of 18
- Loops
- 8 closed
Expected value
- What is at stake
- $390Ba year at least, in infrastructure disruption costs to households and firms in low- and middle-income countriesWorld Bank, Lifelines, 2019
- Return on resilience
- 4 : 1benefit to costWorld Bank, Lifelines, 2019
- Avoided loss
- $80Bflood losses avoided a yearGlobal Commission on Adaptation, Adapt Now, 2019
Hover a pillar, a line or a row to read how it is applied.
A: a teaching cascade (shock 0.6, gain 0.35, four rounds) over teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements. B: illustrative applications and the KPI each pillar answers for; values are published benchmarks, cited, not forecasts. Open events: NASA EONET, live.
The coast is where the domains meet the sea.
- WaterHow this field couples to itSaltwater intrusion and storm surge threaten coastal aquifers and drinking water.
- EnergyHow this field couples to itCoastal power plants, ports and cables are exposed to surge and sea-level rise.
- FoodHow this field couples to itFisheries and aquaculture supply food and income to coastal communities.
- HealthHow this field couples to itHarmful algal blooms and contaminated seafood are coastal health risks.
- BiodiversityHow this field couples to itMangroves, seagrass and reefs protect shores and nurture fisheries.
How Oceans and Coasts is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Earth observation chain
How a satellite or sensor record becomes evidence on Oceans and Coasts, and where each step adds uncertainty.
- 01 · Acquireorbit, sensor and revisitUncertainty: gaps from cloud and orbit
- 02 · Calibrateradiometric and geometricUncertainty: sensor drift
- 03 · Correctatmosphere and terrainUncertainty: aerosol and slope assumptions
- 04 · Retrieve or classifythe variable or the classUncertainty: model and training error
- 05 · Validateagainst ground truthUncertainty: sample design and size
- 06 · Publishwith error bars and lineageUncertainty: stated, never hidden
Uncertainty bands
How far the outlook for Oceans and Coasts could spread, shown as ranges rather than a single line.
- Central estimate
- median of the ensemble
- Ranges
- likely and very likely, in IPCC calibrated language
- Ensemble
- members, scenarios and initial conditions stated
- Read with
- the sensitivity of the result to each input
Where ocean evidence goes.
Coastal and ocean analyses are designed for the Regional Systems series. Ocean observations would keep their GOOS and data-centre provenance under the proposed Nexus Standards.
- Ocean observers can share data through OBIS and GOOS channels.
- Fishing communities can share local knowledge with consent.
- Port authorities can share disruption records.
Ocean state in Pacific Island states.
Marine heat, chlorophyll and sea temperature over Pacific Island states, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
Ocean state, for this page
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- GHRSST MUR25 (NASA JPL PO.DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA JPL PO.DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite analysis
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite analysis of how far sea temperature departs from its usual value for the date shown; a marine heat indicator, not a coral bleaching alert.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds and sun glint leave gaps)
- Source
- MODIS Aqua ocean colour (NASA OB.DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA OB.DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite retrieval; clouds and sun glint leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-13
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite estimate of chlorophyll-a near the sea surface on the day shown, an indicator of plankton and ocean productivity; not a measure of fish stocks or harmful blooms.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- GHRSST MUR (NASA JPL PO.DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA JPL PO.DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite analysis
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Gap-filled satellite analysis of sea surface temperature for the date shown; not a reef or species condition report.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite image
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
- Source
- MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LP DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
- Newest at build
- 2024-01-01
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- MODIS Terra EVI (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite index; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-13
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite vegetation index for the 8 days to the date shown, a habitat condition indicator; not a measure of species or biodiversity.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Ocean state, framed on Pacific Island states.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA PACE OCI · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERTSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GHRSST Level 4 MUR analyses, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS Aqua ocean colour, NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group; distributed by the NASA Ocean Biology DAAC (OB.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): NASA PACE OCI. We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (10 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Sea surface temperature anomaly: GHRSST MUR25, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Ocean chlorophyll-a concentration: MODIS Aqua ocean colour, NASA OB.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Sea surface temperature: GHRSST MUR, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- Enhanced vegetation index, rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra EVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
Why coastal risk cascades.
The ocean absorbs most of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases and a large share of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity. Two consequences reach the coast directly. Sea level rises as water warms and expands and as glaciers and ice sheets lose mass, and the ocean becomes warmer, more acidic and, in many regions, lower in oxygen. Sea-level rise is not uniform: ocean circulation, gravitational effects of ice loss and vertical land motion, including subsidence in many deltas and coastal cities, make local change differ from the global mean.
Coastal hazards compound. A storm surge on a higher baseline floods further inland; heavy rainfall cannot drain when the sea is high; saltwater intrudes into aquifers and farmland. Natural defences such as mangroves, salt marshes, seagrass meadows and coral reefs reduce wave energy, but they are themselves under stress from heat, sediment starvation and development. When they degrade, exposure rises at the same time as fisheries decline.
The consequences travel inland and overseas. Ports handle most of world trade by volume, and a closure ripples through supply chains, fuel supply and food imports. Small island states depend on a few harbours, airports and power stations, all on the coast. Fishing communities lose income when stocks shift with warming water. Coastal risk is therefore a systems problem, and no single discipline can describe it alone.
Interdisciplinary marine evidence, for those who plan and decide.
The platform brings marine observation, coastal inundation science and fisheries and habitat evidence together under shared methods, so that a planner, a port engineer and a fisheries scientist can work from the same picture with its uncertainty stated.
Coastal risk atlas methods
Open methods for mapping exposure to sea level, surge and erosion, designed to be reused and checked.
Marine dependency briefs
Evidence on how ports, fisheries, energy and settlements depend on coastal and marine systems.
Research cases
Documented studies of places and events, with sources, methods and limits.
GCRI is a research, development and policy institution. It does not regulate, certify, license or approve, and its findings carry their methods and uncertainty. Coastal decisions remain with competent authorities and communities.
Grounded in STEM, connected across three institutions.
The platform stewards ocean and coastal science in the STEM Commons and applies Earth observation and remote sensing, extreme value theory and tail risk, ecology and biodiversity science, geospatial information systems, Earth and geophysical science and water and environmental engineering. It sits in three fields, oceans and coasts, climate and hazards and biodiversity and nature.
The same questions are governed and financed elsewhere in the Consortium. The Global Risks Forum (GRF) convenes ocean and land governance through Climate and Nature Governance. The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) builds shared industry understanding of coastal loss through Reinsurance and Catastrophe and Climate and Nature Financial Risk. Within GCRI, the platform works closely with Biodiversity Nexus and Climate and Hazards. Foundry systems EOP, EWS and The Global Risks Index (NXS-GRX) are named on its Foundry page, and the Universe theme coastal flood and port continuity tests the evidence in an exercise setting.
Built on named science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Every claim on Oceans and Coasts rests on methods with a canonical page in the STEM Commons, so readers can see what a finding depends on and where its limits lie.
How work moves in this field.
A question becomes evidence, a governed build, an organised community, a controlled test, a reviewed publication and, finally, a decision taken by the competent authority under its own rules.
- Question Universe National, regional or institutional priority. Question in Oceans and Coasts
- Evidence Foundry STEM foundation of the platform. Evidence in Oceans and Coasts
- Build Foundry Foundry. Build in Oceans and Coasts
- Organise Universe Nexus ecosystem. Organise in Oceans and Coasts
- Test Universe Universe (independent site). Test in Oceans and Coasts
- Publish Reports Reports. Publish in Oceans and Coasts
- Decide Competent authority Competent authorities and institutions, through NXS-RLS (participants, agreements and handoffs). Decide in Oceans and Coasts
- Renew Universe Corrections and the next annual agenda. Renew in Oceans and Coasts
Each step of the cycle in the pillar it runs in; the decision stays with the competent authority, outside the programme.
- Labs
- Foundry
- Universe
- Nexus Standards
- Reports
- Risk Academy
- Competent authority (outside the programme)
How this works across the six pillars.
Oceans and Coasts works through six pillars of one annual programme, led by the Nexus Consortium, with GCRI, GRF and GRA each contributing in its role: explore, experiment and prototype in Labs, build, simulate and prepare in Foundry, convene and test in Universe, codify, correct and apply in Nexus Standards, publish in every format in Reports, teach in the open in Risk Academy.
handoff in playrecorded handoffno direct handoff
Programme yearAll phases
Route
The whole programme
Every pillar hands its work to another; together they close the year’s feedback loops.
L · F · U · S · R · A
- Pillars
- 6 of 6
- Handoffs
- 18 of 18
- Loops
- 17 closed
Handoffs in play
- F01Universe → Foundry · Admitted mission becomes a cycle project with a decision caseReadiness preparation
- F02Foundry → Universe · Core Build Report and go or no-go evidenceControlled build
- F03Foundry → Reports · Sealed observations and indicator series behind a profileCloseout
- F04Universe → Reports · After-action and scenario findings for chapters 10 and 13After-action review
and 14 more
- LabsWhere questions become experiments and prototypes: new methods, data and tools are tried in the open, with their limits on record, before the Foundry builds them, under the Nexus Consortium.Labs
- FoundryWhere methods, data and models become reproducible builds, each run with its inputs, version and limits on record.Oceans and Coasts in FoundryFoundry
- UniverseWhere a build is tested under controlled conditions with independent evaluators, so a method’s skill is measured, not assumed.Oceans and Coasts in Universeuniverse.nexus
- Nexus StandardsWhere methods, identifiers and data schemas are codified in the open and corrected when a test finds a fault.Climate and Earth Systems in Standardsnexustandards.com
- ReportsWhere findings are published with their method, uncertainty and evidence class, and corrected as new versions.Oceans and Coasts in ReportsReports
- Risk AcademyWhere methods and systems are taught on real data and real places, by working the case, on Risk Academy.Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences in Academyrisksacademy.com
What the work is read against.
The platform does not set standards. It reads its evidence against the frameworks that competent bodies have adopted, so a finding can be placed where a decision-maker already works.
| Framework or standard | Body | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
| United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea | United Nations | The legal framework for maritime zones, navigation, resources and protection of the marine environment |
| Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction | United Nations, under UNCLOS | Rules for marine genetic resources, area-based management, impact assessment and capacity in the high seas |
| IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | Assessed science on sea-level rise, ocean warming, acidification and coastal risk |
| Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework | Convention on Biological Diversity | Global targets including protection and restoration of marine and coastal areas |
| Global Ocean Observing System Essential Ocean Variables | GOOS, led by IOC-UNESCO | The variables and requirements for sustained ocean observation |
| Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the Port State Measures Agreement | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | Principles for sustainable fisheries and port controls against illegal fishing |
| MARPOL Convention | International Maritime Organization | Rules to prevent pollution from ships by oil, chemicals, sewage, garbage and air emissions |
| Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies | World Trade Organization | Disciplines on subsidies to illegal fishing, overfished stocks and unregulated high seas |
| Sustainable Development Goal 14 | United Nations | Targets and indicators for conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources |
The same field, seen three ways.
GCRI studies a field as science, GRF governs it and GRA builds shared financial understanding of it. Oceans and Coasts links to its counterparts so that work on one side is visible on the others.
- Diplomacy NexusInstitutionGRFShared fieldClimate and hazards
- Climate and Nature GovernanceInstitutionGRFShared fieldClimate and hazards, Biodiversity and nature
- Insurance NexusInstitutionGRAShared fieldClimate and hazards
- Banking NexusInstitutionGRAShared fieldClimate and hazards
- Asset Management NexusInstitutionGRAShared fieldClimate and hazards, Biodiversity and nature
- Reinsurance and CatastropheInstitutionGRAShared fieldClimate and hazards
- Climate and Nature Financial RiskInstitutionGRAShared fieldClimate and hazards, Biodiversity and nature
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982)
- IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (IPCC, 2019)
- Agreement on Port State Measures (FAO, 2009; in force 2016)
- Global Ocean Observing System, Essential Ocean Variables (GOOS)
- Nexus Standards, the proposed NS series (nexustandards.com)
Pages in Oceans and Coasts.
Mandate and publisher
PageField overview
PageResearch and evidence
PageInnovation and practical technology
PageProgrammes and projects
PageData and technical methods
PageSpecialist community
PageLearning and professional development
PageEvents and technical dialogues
PageResearch and publications
PageParticipation paths
PageContact the specialist team
PageTrust, rights and status
PageSTEM foundation of Oceans and Coasts
PageHow work moves in this field
PageBuild in Foundry
PageTest in Universe
PagePublish in Reports
PageThe same field across the Consortium
PageTopics
Questions and answers.
Who publishes Oceans and Coasts?
Is Oceans and Coasts active?
How can I contribute?
Where are findings published?
Which values on this platform are real?
How do I report an error?
Is the platform operating?
Does the platform issue coastal flood warnings?
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
- EmailGateway GW-GCRISend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGCRISee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
How Oceans and Coasts works.
Choose a view and press Play to follow the platform’s process, its programme year, the standards it applies and how its findings are published. The outline shows how the work is designed to run, not the status of any decision.
Oceans and Coasts
How Oceans and Coasts works
Platforms · Programme year · Standards · Reports
A platform joins a field to named methods, labelled evidence and the outputs it publishes, without becoming the authority it serves.
01 Scope
- 01Field and familiesStart · The platform leadThe home states the field, its families and who it serves.
- 02Topic dossiersRecord · Platform authorsTopics explain the subject with labelled evidence.
02 Evidence
- 03Evidence labelsRecord · GCRIEach value is labelled: observed, published statistics, estimated, modelled, scenario or unknown.
- 04MethodsStep · Method ownersMethods come from the STEM Commons, each with one canonical page.
03 Work
- 05Scenarios on the systemsModel · Foundry pillarScenarios run on the Nexus systems, labelled as scenario.
- 06Standards that applyRecord · Nexus StandardsThe platform names the standards that apply. A validator report is evidence for review.
04 Publish
- 07EditionsRecord · ReportsFindings are published through Reports with their limits.
- 08Authority decidesOutcome · The competent authorityDecisions and execution stay with the government, operator or licensed institution.
Oceans and Coasts home · Platforms · Shared methodsAn outline of how the work is designed to run; it does not report the status of any decision or record.
Take part in Oceans and Coasts.
Start from who you are. Answer an open call. Or form and lead a competence cell on the Oceans and Coasts platform.
National institutions
Ministries, statistics offices and agencies: a national desk and chapter, and a seat in the working groups. National chapters
Sectors and professions
Operators, regulators, banks, insurers and professional bodies whose work touches Oceans and Coasts. Participate
Learning
Courses and practice, with a record of every course completed. Free to study. Open learning
Standards
Draft, review and adopt the methods and data standards with the working groups. Working groups
Communities and research
Universities, civil society and individual experts: projects, data and review. Write to the team
| Open call | Seeks | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Founding call for experts to the working groups CALL-FOUNDING-EXPERTS | expert, editor, chair | 2026-12-15 |
| Open nomination for the three independent expert seats of the Global Standards Council CALL-GSC-IND | council-member | 2026-12-01 |
| Nominations of interim regional members (applies only if the transitional provision is decided) CALL-GSC-REG | council-member | 2026-12-15 |
| Review of the wave-1 risk core outlines (C1, C2, C3, C4, C8, C10, C11) CALL-REVIEW-WAVE1 | contributor | 2027-01-31 |
| Experts for the core standards of risk science: uncertainty and evidence grading, scales, structured expert judgement, tolerability, extremes and compound events, catastrophic and existential risk, ethics and equity, units and measurement (NRS-C17 to NRS-C24) CALL-CORE-SCIENCE | expert, editor, chair | 2027-01-31 |
| Independent reviewers for the families of the hazard atlas, three from at least two regions for each family (NHS2-R19), priority families first CALL-ATLAS-REVIEW | expert | 2027-03-31 |
| Members of the interim Frontier Safety Review Panel and red-team reviewers (biosafety and biosecurity, AI safety and security, critical-infrastructure security); applications treated in confidence CALL-FRONTIER-SAFETY-REVIEW | expert | 2026-11-30 |
| Experts in ontology, metrology, software verification and conformity assessment for the requirement register, the NHS-2 machine representation, the conformance test suites and the conformity assessment scheme CALL-CONFORMANCE-ONTOLOGY | expert, editor | 2027-01-31 |
Calls past their closing date are hidden automatically. Every call, proposal and route: open areas and calls.
Gather the cell
Bring together three to seven people with complementary skills: data, field practice, policy and communication.
Register it
Write to the team with the cell’s name, members, area and region. You receive a reference and a contact. Write to the team
Choose a charter
Pick one focus: research and evidence, data and maps, standards review, or community preparedness.
Learn together
Follow shared study paths at Risk Academy, with practice and a record of every course completed. Hazards and resilience
Lead and report
Hold regular sessions. Publish what the cell learns through Reports. Bring findings to the working groups. Working groups
What a national team or a local community can do on The Global Risks Index (NXS-GRX) today.
Your country’s profile
Open risk profiles for 195 countries, with sources and licences on every value. Open the Index
Correct or reply
Correct a value or reply for your country. The change is logged with its effect. Open the Index
Offer data
Offer a dataset. It enters through the licence gate, with your credit. Open the Index
Every figure on this page is indexed: environment, climate, hazards, Pacific Island states.
The Index is the Consortium’s indexing system for risk data. Every indicator, hazard, series and country profile carries its Nexus Standards identifier, its source and its licence, so what this page shows can be traced, corrected and reused.
- 01 · Sources205 registered sourcesEvery value keeps its source and licence; withheld values are counted.Data and licences
- 02 · Nexus StandardsNIS-1 and NHS-1451 indicators, 905 hazards; every record carries a UNI.Nexus Standards
- 03 · The Index54 series, 195 country profilesComputed on the standards; no value is published until an edition is released.The Global Risks Index
- 04 · This pageOceans and CoastsMaps, figures and feeds read the Index in the context of environment, climate, hazards and Pacific Island states.Public API
Series in this context environment, climate, hazards
- GSGlobal ClimateChronic and acute physical climate hazard, transition exposure, adaptation gaps and scenario pathways to 2030, 2050 and 2100.NXS-GRX-AR-000065Climate · Hazards · Environment
- GLBGlobal SystemsThe state of interdependent global risk: the twenty domain indices aggregated to the world, the five core systems (water, energy, food, health, biodiversity) and their couplings, the global tail register and the gap…NXS-GRX-AR-000002Hazards · Climate · Environment
- GSGlobal WaterAccess, scarcity, quality, floods and droughts, groundwater depletion, transboundary dependency and the couplings of water to energy, food, health and nature.NXS-GRX-AR-000059Hazards · Climate · Environment
- GSGlobal Earth observationWhat Earth observation can and cannot see of risk: coverage, revisit, latency and the observing systems NXS-GRX depends on.NXS-GRX-AR-000070Hazards · Climate · Environment
Country profiles Pacific Island states
Every country profile carries the source and licence of each value. Correct a value or reply
Hazard domains NHS-1
- Water systemsNXS-GRX-AR-000136
- Planetary boundaries and Earth-system tippingNXS-GRX-AR-000141
Geodata and API open
Open layers on an equal-area hexagon grid, shown as densities per km² or as symbols: People · GHSL 2025People · WorldPop 2025Built-up areaPortsAirportsRoadsRailwaysRivers and lake centrelines
/api/v1/public/grix · https://nexustandards.com/uni/{uni}
Developers · Data · Made with Natural Earth, Public domain; GHSL and WorldPop, CC BY 4.0
Snapshot of the Index registries pinned 2026-10-23 · 22c6eed. Research and risk-analytics information: not a rating, an official classification, a warning, a benchmark or advice.
Bring a method, a dataset or a question.
Information and enquiries are open today. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.
Legal documents.
Maps, data and figures on this site are shown for context and general information. They are not advice, forecasts or warnings; the limits of the information are set out in the Disclaimers and Data Notices.