New funding from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency will enable the mapping of sea level rise impacts at points around the entire Australian coastline, including the effect of surges from tropical cyclones. It will also indicate the likely impact of coastal erosion of soft shorelines due to sea-level rise. The work will expand ACE’s existing sea level rise online planning tool (www.sealevelrise.info), which has been available for coastal planners and consultants since 2009. Until now the tool has had the capacity to provide information for 29 sites, while the enhanced tool will allow assessments roughly every 2.5 km around the coast. The tool provides coastal planners, both at state and local government level, with a methodology for assessing the increased likelihood of flooding as sea levels rise. It is also a valuable tool for environmental and engineering consulting firms. Users can select the location, the future emission scenario and the time frame over which the assessment is to be made (generally the lifetime of the coastal asset). The tool then estimates the likelihood of flooding at different elevations, indicating an appropriate design height and maintenance requirements. Online training is needed to access the tool and is essential to understanding its functions. Training modules can be completed through the ACE sea level-rise-website: http://www.sealevelrise.info. Changes will be made to the tool over the coming year. Users can undertake the training at any time and will be notified of new developments.

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