Visualizing Sea Level Rise in American Samoa
We’re in American Samoa, where sea level is rising faster than anywhere else in the US and almost 3x faster than the global average. In response, engineers, scientists, planners, and community members have worked together to develop a new tool—the American Samoa Sea Level Rise Viewer— to help officials and villages predict and plan for coming sea level changes. We visit the areas most at risk and check out local impacts in villages and at the Pago Pago International Airport and the Port of Pago Pago with local experts and with the Sea level rise viewer builders themselves.
Watch the 30-second trailer for Season 11, Episode 7 on Vimeo, YouTube, or on Vimeo with English Subtitles.
Watch other episodes about American Samoa from Season 2: Life in American Samoa, Studying Samoan Culture, Amouli Village Meeting, Crown of Thorns Invades Samoa, Managing Rose Atoll, Episode Highlights
On TV Sun Dec 15 & Sat Dec 21 @ 6pm on K5!
Curriculum Connections:
- Grade 3: The Forces of Waves
- Activity: Eroding Beaches
- Aloha ʻĀina Activity: Wetlands Protect Land and Sea
- NERRS: Climate Change and Rising Sea Levels
- Grades 6-12: Introduction to Coastal Interactions
- Activity: Coastline Wave Tank
- Activity: Coastal Engineering
- Further Investigations: Beaches and Sand
- Climate Connections: Sea Level Rise
- Grades 6-12: Wave-Coast Interactions
- Further Investigations: Wave-Coast Interactions
Additional Resources:
- Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC Homepage)
- American Samoa Sea Level Rise Viewer (Homepage)
- PI-CASC: About the Sea Level Rise Viewer
- Talanei.com: New tool for measuring sea level rise launched today
- University of Hawaiʻi Sea Level Center (Homepage)
Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS Homepage)
- NOAA Global Sea Level Rise Viewer (Homepage)
- NOAA Climate.gov: Global Sea Level Resources
- NOAA Daily Tide Prediction: Pago Pago
- NASA Sea Level Portal (Homepage)
- Department of Port Administration, American Samoa (Homepage)
- American Samoa Community College (Homepage)
- American Samoa Sea Level Rise in The News
- Samoa News: Samoan Islands’ Sinking Dilemma
- Yale Climate Connects: with Kelley Anderson Tagarino
- NOAA: Tracking Sea Level Changes in American Samoa
- NOAA: How a 2009 Earthquake Continues to Influence Sea Levels on the South-Central Pacific Island of American Samoa
- AGU: Sea Level Rise in the Samoan Islands Escalated by Viscoelastic Relaxation After the 2009 Samoa-Tonga Earthquake
- NASA: Researchers Measure Sinking Land in American Samoa
- NASA: Tracking Coastal Change in American Samoa by Mapping Local Vertical Land Motion With PS-INSAR
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Contact information:
Kanesa Seraphin, Ph.D.
kanesa@hawaii.edu
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