Investigating Circulation in the Vanuatu Archipelago to Improve Understanding of the Impacts of Climate Change

Southwest Pacific Island nations are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, however, our understanding of how future ocean and atmospheric conditions will affect individual nations and islands within archipelagos is limited. Regional sea level rise in the SW Pacific is above global average (as indicated in Fig 1). As a consequence island nations throughout the region wish to understand how sea level rise will affect their communities. Given the wide range of island environments (continental, coral, volcanic), decisions regarding management
of remote island nation coastal communities requires more detail than is presently available from global and regional studies. This study attempts to explore the ocean processes influencing sea level variations in the Vanuatu region. By improving understanding of present conditions, our ability to understand impacts associated with future ocean conditions will be
enhanced. This study is part of the EcoAdapt project, whose overall objective is to test the viability of applying ecosystem-based adaptation approaches to improving resilience to climate change impacts. Given their heavily reliance on local terrestrial and marine ecosystems, Vanuatu was selected as a case study for the EcoAdapt project.