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Climate Change
Climate Change Planning Program
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have already contributed to an increase in average global temperature. One impact of higher global temperatures is accelerated sea level rise. Historic records show that sea level in San Francisco Bay has risen nearly eight inches in the past century. The California Climate Action Team projects that sea level will rise between 20 and 55 inches (0.5 and 1.4 meters) by the year 2100.
In response to climate change and the challenges that it will present to the Bay Area, BCDC developed a Climate Change Planning Program to focus on developing strategies to reduce the region’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
The goals of BCDC’s Climate Change Planning Program are to:
- identify and report on the impacts of climate change on San Francisco Bay;
- identify strategies for adapting to climate change;
- develop a regional task force to inform and coordinate local governments, stakeholders, and land use planning bodies in the Bay area regarding the potential Bay-related impacts of and approaches for adapting to global climate change;
- identify the findings and policies in the San Francisco Bay Plan pertaining to climate change, such as the findings and policies on sea level rise, and update other relevant Bay Plan policies to incorporate new information about the impacts of climate change.
Currently, BCDC is advancing the above goals with the following projects
BCDC has developed draft findings and policies on climate change and a background report that reflects the current state of knowledge regarding the potential impacts of climate change on the region. The background report, Draft Staff Report. Living With A Rising Bay: Vulnerability And Adaptation In San Francisco Bay And On the Shoreline. April 7, 2009, identifies vulnerabilities in the Bay Area’s economic and environmental systems, as well as the potential impacts of climate change on public health and safety.
In 2006 BCDC released a series of maps depicting the lands most vulnerable to sea level rise. To improve the accuracy and precision of the maps, using funding provided by the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research Program the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) developed new sea level rise data. BCDC used the data to produce a new series of sea level rise maps showing areas vulnerable to 16 inches of sea level rise at mid-century and 55 inches at the end of the century.
Bay Area Regional Map 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Central Bay 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Central Bay East Shore 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Central Bay North 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Central Bay South 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Central Bay West Shore 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Grizzly Bay 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Honker Bay 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Napa River 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Petaluma River 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- San Pablo Bay Carquinez Strait 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- Suisun Marsh 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
- South Bay 16 || 55 || 16 & 55
For more information about the data used to produce maps and the sea level rise scenarios see BCDC’s draft background report, Living with a Rishing Bay: Vulnerability and Adaptation in San Francisco Bay and on the Shoreline. April 7, 2009.
Rising tides competitionBCDC is hosting an open international design competition for ideas responding to sea level rise in San Francisco Bay and beyond.
Reports and Links
- Presentation on Climate Change Strategy for the San Francisco Bay Region
- Using the Public Trust Doctrine to Adapt to Climate Change in San Francisco Bay [
pdf, 639KB] - http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's web page on climate change, which provides data on "Vital Signs of the Planet," along with a summary of the relevant science on key indicators, evidence, causes, effects, uncertainties, and solutions.
- California Climate Adaptation Strategy
- Sea Level Rise [ pdf, 2.96MB]
Predications and Implications for San Francisco Bay - December 1987 - Revised October 1988 - A Sea Level Rise Strategy for the San Francisco Bay Region [ pdf, 172KB]
- Analysis of a Tidal Barrage at the Golden Gate
- Action Approving the Bay Area Regional Agency Climate Protection Program
- Summary report to Commission
- Joint Policy Committee Regional Agencies Climate Protection Program
- NOAA Climate Change Adaptation provides guidebooks, action plans, case studies, climate strategies, tools, risk and vulnerability assessment processes, and basic climate science resources that are useful in preparing climate change adaptation strategies.
- FutureSeaLevel.org graphically illustrates the effects of rising sea levels in the hope that this information will inspire Bay Area residents to work together to find solutions.
- On March 10, 2009, the Pacific Institute released a report prepared for the State of California, which estimates that 480,000 people, a wide range of critical infrastructure, vast areas of wetlands and other natural ecosystems, and nearly $100 billion in property along the California coast are at increased risk from flooding from a 1.4-meter sea-level rise if no adaptation actions are taken. Two-thirds of the property at risk rings San Francisco Bay.
- Climate watch: California at the Tipping Point
The world's climate is changing and California is now being affected in both dramatic and subtle ways. Get an in-depth look at the science behind climate change as we explore the environmental changes taking place throughout the state. - Sea Change. This CBC report provides a Canadian perspective on the efforts underway in California, and especially in San Francisco Bay, to address the impacts of climate change.
Forums
- Preparing for Sea Level Rise in the Bay Area - A Local Government Forum
- Regional Climate Change Research Forum - Identifying Research Needs for Climate Change Adaptation
Contact
Steve Goldbeck
steveg@bcdc.ca.gov
415.352.3611