Delta subsidence
Radar interferometry and GNSS measure subsidence in deltas, which is added to sea-level rise to estimate relative change.
GCRI · Oceans and Coasts
Coastal geoscience
Earth and geophysical science explains the coast’s solid ground: sediment supply, subsidence, tectonic movement and submarine hazards. In this field it informs relative sea-level change, coastal erosion and tsunami hazard.
01Register
Coastal geoscience on the record.
Method recordSTEM method
- MethodEarth and geophysical science
- StewardClimate and Hazards
- Applied inOceans and Coasts
- Data3 inputs
- Checks3 validation steps
- Canonical pageSTEM Commons
02Application
What earth and geophysical science does here.
Geoscience studies the composition, structure and dynamics of the solid Earth, including earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and subsurface resources. It informs where and how often geological hazards occur and how they cascade into infrastructure and supply disruption. In oceans and coasts, climate and hazards and biodiversity and nature, geoscience sets ground-shaking and ground-failure inputs for building codes, siting and catastrophe models. It identifies where single geological events can disrupt multiple networks at once. The canonical description is on the STEM Commons.
Sediment budgets
Sediment supplied by rivers and moved along the coast is estimated to understand erosion and the effect of dams and coastal works.
Tsunami source characterisation
Subduction zones and submarine landslide areas are characterised with geological and seafloor data to support tsunami hazard assessment.
03Geography
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
- 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
- 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
- Estimated
- Source
- Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
- Provider
- NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Vintage
- null; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- 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
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
04Data
What the method consumes.
Datasets and records used by earth and geophysical science on this platform, with the role each plays and the label its values carry. Sources are listed in the source register.
| Data | Role | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Sentinel-1 radar | Subsidence | OBSERVED |
| GNSS stations | Vertical land motion | OBSERVED |
| River sediment records | Sediment supply | OBSERVED |
05Twin and cascade simulator
Model coastal geoscience 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
06Validation
How results are checked.
Hazard models are tested against historical and paleoseismic catalogues and observed ground motions. Deformation estimates are cross-checked between independent geodetic techniques.
| Check | How it is done |
|---|---|
| GNSS comparison | Radar subsidence rates are compared with GNSS |
| Budget uncertainty | Sediment budgets state their uncertainty |
| Source model review | Tsunami sources are reviewed by geological services |
Catalogues are short relative to recurrence intervals of large events. Fault interactions and triggering are difficult to predict deterministically.
07Risk and response
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
ACoupled risk across six sectors10 / 15 relations
Sectors · Coastal storm surgeStress
applied to
BApplied response across six pillars12 / 18 handoffs
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.
08Connections
Topics that rely on this method.
09Methods and evidence
How coastal geoscience 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 coastal geoscience, 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
FAIR guiding principles · GO FAIR and FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumGuidance on consistent treatment of uncertainties · IPCCCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
10Stewardship
Who maintains the method.
Climate and Hazards stewards earth and geophysical science for the Consortium and reviews how it is applied across platforms.
11Process
How the process runs.
Process
Coastal geoscience: Layers to published map
Layers enter with their rights, are aligned, analysed and checked for uncertainty, then released after public-safe review; a map is a governed spatial claim.
01 Data
- 01Source layers with their rightsDataset · NXS-GRX (canonical data, provenance and risk)Spatial views of The Global Risks Index (NXS-GRX) products sit under the boundary licence gate. Rights classification sets how a layer may be used.
02 Harmonise
- 02Coordinate reference and boundary versionRecord · NXS-EOP (earth observation and digital twins)The area of interest preserves its coordinate reference system, polygon validity and observation support. Boundary versions are kept.
- 03Harmonise units, variables and timeStepUnit metadata, conversion records and transformation logs are required. Alignment is an evidence event, not hidden preprocessing.
03 Analyse and check
- 04Analyse with a recorded processing recipeModel · GIS teamA processing recipe records parameters, calibration, inputs and output lineage. The analysis methods are named in each product’s own record.
- 05Spatial uncertainty checkGateSpatial uncertainty is recorded and affects downstream use. A high-uncertainty polygon may suit internal review, not public-safe release.
04 Publish
- 06Spatial metadata bundleRecordThe bundle records boundary type, jurisdiction, geometry version, projection, resolution, source, time window, uncertainty and access class.
- 07Public-safe release of the mapDecisionThe output record names the redactions, uncertainty and public-safe reviewer. A map is a governed spatial claim, never merely a picture.
Spatio-temporal intelligence · Data protocols: semantic, jurisdictional and temporal intelligence · NXS-EOPDesigned programme process, not a record of operation. No cycle has run and every programme is at service level R0. A gate is a programme decision, never a public-authority approval, certification or deployment authorisation. The pages cited are design doctrine.
12Connected
Where this page leads across the Consortium.
13Questions
Questions and answers.
What are the limits of earth and geophysical science in this field?
Catalogues are short relative to recurrence intervals of large events. Fault interactions and triggering are difficult to predict deterministically.
How are results checked?
Hazard models are tested against historical and paleoseismic catalogues and observed ground motions. Deformation estimates are cross-checked between independent geodetic techniques.
Are the values on this page real?
The data names, roles and checks are real descriptions of practice. The canvas shows a design of the method’s use, not a run; no result is reported here.
Where else is this method applied?
The canonical method page lists every platform that applies it.
ReportsContribute
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.
GCRIOceans and CoastsGlobal Sector Risk and ResilienceObservatory Signal
- 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.
Oceans and Coasts
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
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.