W&M > VIMS > CCRM > Sea Level Rise Planning Maps

Sea Level Rise Planning Maps

This project created maps depicting the likelihood of shore protection along the Virginia coast as part of a nationwide study reported in "State and local governments plan for development of most land vulnerable to rising sea level along the U.S. Atlantic Coast.", which appeared in Environmental Research Letters (2009). For your convenience we also include maps from the companion studies of Maryland and North Carolina.

The purpose of the project was to motivate dialogues about the appropriate response to rising sea level, by creating maps that depict the likely response given current practices and policies. The maps divide coastal low lands into four categories: developed (shore protection almost certain), intermediate (shore protection likely), undeveloped (shore protection unlikely), and conservation (no shore protection).

Northern Virginia and most of the Hampton Roads areas are intensely developed except for park and conservation lands, and most land there is almost certain to be protected. Near the North Carolina border, however, Virginia Beach plans to keep the area south of its "Rural Line" largely undeveloped. The City of Chesapeake, by contrast, plans to develop much of its rural lands. Development is not immediately expected for much of the Eastern Shore and along many of the tributaries to Chesapeake Bay. No policies are in place; however, to prevent such development either. Along the Atlantic ocean, almost all of the barrier islands are off limits to development.

va sea level rise planning

Virginia Maps (All VA maps zipped)

ANPDC_Accomack ANPDC-Northampton

Arlington-Alexandria

ccsp_delmarva_south

CCSP_Northern_Neck_Middle_Peninsula

HRPDC_Chesapeake

HRPDC_Hampton

HRPDC_IsleOfWight
HRPDC_IsleOfWight_South HRPDC_JamesCityCounty

HRPDC_NewportNews

HRPDC_Norfolk
HRPDC_Poquoson HRPDC_Portsmouth

HRPDC_Suffolk_North

HRPDC_Suffolk_South
HRPDC_Surry HRPDC_VirginiaBeach

HRPDC_York

Is Wight-Suffolk
King_George_VA MPPDC_Essex

MPPDC_Gloucester

MPPDC_KingAndQueen
MPPDC_KingWilliam MPPDC_Mathews

MPPDC_Middlesex

NNPDC_Lancaster
NNPDC_Northumberland NNPDC_Richmond

NNPDC_Westmoreland

NOVA_Alexandria
NOVA_Arlington NOVA_FairfaxCounty

NOVA_PrinceWilliam

RADCO_Caroline
RADCO_Fredericksburg RADCO_KingGeorge

RADCO_Spotsylvania

RADCO_Stafford
S14_Potomac_Full S15_hamptonroads

Stafford

VA Statewide Planning

 

Maryland Maps (All MD maps zipped)

Anne Arundel County Baltimore City

Baltimore County

Calvert County

Caroline County Cecil County

Charles County

Dorchester County
Harford County Kent County

MD_lower_eastern

MD_Statewide
MD_statewide_for_CCSP old_pre_Egypt_RoadDorchester
County_SLR

Prince Georges County

Queen Annes County
S12_delmarva_atlantic S13_MD_statewide_for_CCSP

S14_Potomac_Full

Somerset County
St Mary County Talbot County

Upper_Chesapeake

Wicomico County
Worcester County  

 

 

North Carolina Maps (All NC maps zipped)

Beaufort Bertie

Brunswick

Camden

Carteret Chowan

Craven

Currituck
Dare_hatteras Dare_mainland

Dare_northernspit

Gates
Hertford Hyde

Martin

NC_Index_map
NC_shoreline New Hanover

Onslow

Pamlico
Pasquotank Pender

Perquimans

Tyrrell
Washington  

 

 
Miscellaneous federal data Miscellaneous data - state Va sea level rise planning map