Visualizing sea level rise to examine the nexus of climate change and socio-economic security

Studies estimate a sea level rise range of 0.5 to greater than 2 meters by the year 2100. A rise of this magnitude will significantly impact the socio-economic dimensions of coastal communities, which contain approximately 40 percent of the U.S. population and account for close to 50 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Data visualizations represent a useful tool for communities preparing for this environmental change. The singular capabilities of GIS for assimilating data allow users to link science to society in a geographic context. The results provide valuable insight for community planning efforts. Increasing the data visualizations from two dimensional (2D) to three dimensional (3D) will help communities better understand the impacts of sea level rise. Charleston, South Carolina is uniquely situated for a case study of this approach due to its location at the confluence of environmental change and cultural, historic, and economic influence. Predicted levels of sea level rise will disrupt this community and result in wide ranging impacts to the region's economic, employment, and infrastructure sectors. In this study data visualizations and 3D mapping are used to get a holistic understanding of the nexus of a changing climate and its effect on Charleston. The lessons learned here are transferable to other coastal cities and to government officials and planners interested in using exploratory visualizations to address sea level rise impacts. The results of this case study indicate that despite limitations in display and analysis, visualizations and 3D mapping are an engaging medium for shaping interdisciplinary spatial planning and revealing important connections between the environment and the community.