Maps depicting likelihood of shore protection along the Delaware coast from a new article in Environmental Research Letters

A $2 million effort to map the likelihood of shore protection as sea level rises is summarized in a new article entitled "State and local governments plan for development of most land vulnerable to rising sea level along the U.S. Atlantic Coast." 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 New Castle County and the Atlantic Coast of Sussex County are intensely developed except for park and conservation lands, and almost certain to be protected. Along Delaware Bay that the lower Delaware River, floodplain regulations prevent development in the 100-year floodplains from the C&D Canal south to the Kent/Sussex County border. Much of the low land along Delaware Bay in Sussex County is either conservation land or privte land subject to an agriculture preservation easement. For further details, see the report by Hudgens et al. or the summary of Delaware findings.

The maps from this study can be downloaded individually by clicking on a thumbnail map below; the entire set is also available in a zipped file. These jpg files were designed for printing at 300 dots per inch on 8-1/2 X 11 inch paper. If you simply click on the links below and try to read them on your computer screen, some of them may look strange, depending on your internet browser. If so, please save the jpg map onto your computer's hard drive and then open the file with the program you normally use to read jpg files.