All official European Union website addresses are in the europa.eu domain.
See all EU institutions and bodies
An official website of the European Union | How do you know?
Environmental information systems
EN
Objective(s)
The Coastal Hazard Wheel (CHW) is a global classification and management framework designed to support coastal resilience as it facilitates the assessment and management of coastal areas.
Short description
The Coastal Hazard Wheel is a tool for combined multi-hazard assessment and management of coastal areas worldwide under a changing climate. The tool can be used for determining the characteristics of a particular coastline and for producing hazard maps for ecosystem disruption, gradual inundation, saltwater intrusion, erosion and flooding. It also provides an overview of relevant hazard management measures.
Free keywords
Coastal hazards, multi-hazard assessment, management measures, stakeholder engagement
Readiness for use
Applications
The Coastal Hazard Wheel was initially presented in 2012 and has since then been refined and developed into a complete hazard management tool, based on a range of test-applications and feedback from coastal experts. 30 applications are documented on the website, including three regions in Europe (Malta, Portugal and Denmark).
More detailed information can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0964569117301552 (Malta)
https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-coastal-research/volume-35/issue-3/JCOASTRES-D-18-00083.1/Coastal-Hazard-Assessments-for-Sandy-Coasts--Appraisal-of-Five/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-18-00083.1.short (Portugal) https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org/denmark-map/ (Denmark)
Strengths and weaknesses, comparative added value to other similar tools
Strengths:
(+) The Coastal Hazard Wheel provides a universal framework for coastal management and adaptation
(+) The tool can be used for hazard screening and management at local, regional and national level
(+) The tool is suited for locations where data availability or institutional capacity is limited
(+) The tool can be used for coastal adaptation analysis and guidance, master planning, as a structured approach to coastal adaptation, multi-hazard assessments, stakeholder engagement, as well as training and education
(+) The tool is user-friendly, no login or software download is required and the handling is easy.
Weaknesses:
(-) The tool builds on a conceptual framework for the world’s coasts with associated simplifications.
(-) The accuracy of the coastal classification, hazard assessment and management guidance depends on the accuracy of the currently available input data.
(-) Since the tool is a management framework, it should be supplemented with more detailed modelling and analysis before implementation of specific management measures.
Integration:
The Coastal Hazard Wheel can be combined with more detailed analysis or modelling tools and can function as a unifying framework for different analysis, modelling and planning considerations
Input(s)
The tool provides results for coastlines across the globe. Various spatial datasets are integrated into the tool, and it is not needed to upload any data to use the tool. However, the integration of additional national datasets is possible, please see ”Replicability”.
Output(s)
The tool displays information on climate hazard profile, risk parameters and relevant hazard management measures for a selected coastal location. Moreover, it can be used for producing hazard maps for the hazards of ecosystem disruption, gradual inundation, saltwater intrusion, erosion and flooding under the predicted changes in global climate over the coming decades.
Replicability: Cost/effort for (new) usage
The coastal classification is based on global datasets and can deviate from the local situation. If you want to use special national datasets, please contact the coordination office (https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org/contact/).
Materials or other support available
Quick start guide:
https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org/media/1410/quick-start-guide_coastal-hazard-wheel.pdf
Main manual:
https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org/media/1411/main-manual_coastal-hazard-wheel.pdf
Catalogue of hazard management options: https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org/media/1412/catalogue_coastal-hazard-wheel.pdf
Scientific background:
https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org/media/1180/generic-framework-for-meso-scale-assessment.pdf
https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org/media/1181/the-coastal-hazard-wheel-system.pdf
Website and maintenance
https://www.coastalhazardwheel.org
The Coastal Hazard Wheel will be continuously updated as various data, automation and AI components are added.
Contact
Associated project(s)
Coastal Hazard Wheel initiative
From local to global level
Geographical area
All coastal
English, explanations of the tool are also available in French and Spanish.
The tool is generally very easy to use. However, some background knowledge of coastal hazards and management options is helpful.
Disclaimer
The contents and links to third-party items on this Mission webpage are developed by the MIP4Adapt team led by Ricardo, under contract CINEA/2022/OP/0013/SI2.884597 funded by the European Union and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, CINEA, or those of the European Environment Agency (EEA) as host of the Climate-ADAPT Platform. Neither the European Union nor CINEA nor the EEA accepts responsibility or liability arising out of or in connection with the information on these pages.
Language preference detected
Do you want to see the page translated into ?
Exclusion of liability
This translation is generated by eTranslation, a machine translation tool provided by the European Commission.