Area of Interest
Area of Interest | Choice of Variables

Shaw and his colleagues (1998) performed a thorough analysis of the physical sensitivity of the coasts of Canada, generating an index of susceptibility to sea-level rise based on a ranking system for seven variables (relief, solid geology, coastal landform, shoreline displacement rate, mean tidal range, significant wave height). Through this study, they identified three particularly sensitive regions: sections of the Maritime Provinces, the Beaufort Sea coast, and the Fraser River Delta and Haida Gwaii of British Columbia. Most studies of coastal sensitivity have since focused on these areas, with little work done on the coasts and islands under less inundation and erosion risk.

In the absence of an in-depth study of the coastal sensitivity of Vancouver Island, an initiatory attempt at constructing an index of susceptibility of climate change impacts would be a tentative first step towards coastal management for the region under increasingly dire climate forcing. Thus, the focus of this project was selected to be on the entirety of the Vancouver Island coast.

Choice of Variables
Area of Interest | Choice of Variables

The number and type of variables included in prior coastal sensitivity and classification indexes have varied widely. In a review of common coastal indices, Cooper and McLaughlin (1998) determined that six to nineteen variables are commonly used for index construction, and that the inclusion of socio-economic factors is often considered a better representation of the consequences of climate change impacts from an anthropocentric point of view. However, much of the data included in these indexes are highly restricted by the availability of data, which was encountered in the progression of this project.

The variables selected for the construction of the coastal sensitivity index was largely based on the work of McLaughlin and Cooper (2010) and the availability of data.