ODU aims to become hub for research on rising sea level

NORFOLK

Old Dominion University plans to unveil an initiative Thursday to become a national hub for research, teaching and expertise in rising sea levels related to climate change.

The directive from ODU President John R. Broderick comes as the Navy's top oceanographer, Rear Adm. David Titley, is scheduled to speak Thursday night in Norfolk about the threats of climate change and how the Navy is preparing to cope with them.

Titley's free talk is open to the public and slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on the ODU campus.

The university's initiative includes at least $200,000 and a commitment to pursue federal grants to hire faculty, conduct research and expand climate change in the university's curriculum.

"We are forced to take very seriously the scientific evidence that predicts the ocean's rise of 2 feet or more before the end of the century," Broderick said. "It's as if we live in a climate-science fishbowl here on the Virginia coast."

Given its swampy, low-lying nature and the fact that land is slowly sinking, Hampton Roads for years has been forecast to be the second-most vulnerable region to elevating seas on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, behind only New Orleans.

Whether the phenomenon is linked to global warming doesn't matter, school officials said.

The reality is, coastal waters are rising - by between 15 and 17 inches over the past century - making shoreline areas more susceptible to storms, flooding and tidal surges.

Former ODU president James Koch, in his annual State of the Region report this year, called sea-level rise "the problem of the 21st century" for Hampton Roads, and especially for Norfolk, with all of its shipyards, industries and Navy facilities located so close to the water's edge.

"Only those with no concern for the future can afford to ignore this development," the report said.

It was Koch who approached Broderick about pushing the issue more at ODU, said Larry Atkinson, a university oceanographer who has been leading the effort quietly since this summer.

Atkinson has been meeting for months with faculty and staff from different colleges across the Norfolk campus, including engineering, business and performing arts, seeking ideas and interest.

"I've encountered nothing but encouragement," Atkinson said. "We want to get more involved in this issue. And frankly, given our location in an urban, coastal environment, we're in a unique position to do so."

ODU does not have a climate-change adaptation plan, Atkinson said, "but we'll probably have to do that."

Titley, the Navy oceanographer, is scheduled to meet with ODU faculty and environmental experts involved in the initiative before his speech Thursday, to go over Navy research and compare notes, Atkinson said.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com