Study on environmental consequences of sea level rise on areas along the Göta Älv in Gothenburg

Abstract

That the significant increase of the “green house effect” is caused by human activities is widely accepted among scientists. However, they cannot agree upon how fast regional sea levels will rise and how severe the impact will be. This thesis aims at analyzing the impact of sea level rise on the environment of Gothenburg, Sweden based on different estimations of sea level rise (0.1-0.9 m). Based on these estimations, three scenarios are created for fourteen riverside districts (“stadsdelsnämnd”) of Gothenburg in the next hundred years: the zero-increase, moderate-increase and maximum-increase. The study area is along the Göta Älv - the city’s river - which will be affected the most when sea level rise occurs and the environmental consequences in focus are landslides and saltwater intrusion. Data from different reliable sources are integrated into a GIS map and then analyzed by the software ArcGIS 9. Product maps for the scenarios support the discussion about potential measures against sea level rise in the future.