Rising Sea Levels and the Increase of Shoreline Wave Energy at American Samoa

Rising Sea Levels and the Increase of Shoreline Wave Energy at American Samoa | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Rising Sea Levels and the Increase of Shoreline Wave Energy at American Samoa Austin T Barnes, Janet M Becker, Kelley A Tagarino, William C O'Reilly, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3962440/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Mar, 2024 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract American Samoa is experiencing rapid relative sea level rise due to increases in global sea level and significant post-2009 earthquake land subsidence, endangering homes and critical infrastructure. Wave and water-level observations collected over a fringing reef at Faga‘itua Bay, American Samoa, in 2017 reveal depth-limited shoreline sea-swell wave heights over the range of conditions sampled. Using field data to calibrate a one-dimensional, phase-resolving nonhydrostatic wave model (SWASH), we examine the influence of water level on wave heights over the reef for a range of current and future sea levels. Assuming a fixed reef bathymetry, model results predict rising sea levels will escalate nearshore extreme water levels that are dominated by an increase in nearshore sea-swell wave heights. Model results provide insight into how and at what reef depths rising sea levels reduce reef capacity to dissipate wave energy, compounding shoreline threats. This study aims to bring increased attention to the immediate threats to American Samoa’s way of life, and to demonstrate the utility of SWASH for extrapolating wave transformation to future sea level. Oceanography sea level rise land subsidence fringing reef wave modeling extreme water levels wave energy dissipation Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Mar, 2024 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3962440","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":273785895,"identity":"62c894bb-6131-45fb-b404-ef7f2e971ac1","order_by":0,"name":"Austin T 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Wave and water-level observations collected over a fringing reef at Faga\u0026lsquo;itua Bay, American Samoa, in 2017 reveal depth-limited shoreline sea-swell wave heights over the range of conditions sampled. Using field data to calibrate a one-dimensional, phase-resolving nonhydrostatic wave model (SWASH), we examine the influence of water level on wave heights over the reef for a range of current and future sea levels. Assuming a fixed reef bathymetry, model results predict rising sea levels will escalate nearshore extreme water levels that are dominated by an increase in nearshore sea-swell wave heights. Model results provide insight into how and at what reef depths rising sea levels reduce reef capacity to dissipate wave energy, compounding shoreline threats. 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