Climate Change in the Littorals: Assessing Impacts to the U.S. Marine Corps in the Face of New Realities

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) issued the 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap (Roadmap) that lists several effects of climate change that DoD must assess. Two of the assessment requirements most applicable to the Marine Corps are as follows: 1. How will climate change alter the operating environments? 2. How will climate change affect the demand for DoD capabilities and prioritization of engagements across the range of military operations, with special attention to overseas humanitarian assistance and disaster response missions? This paper attempts to answer the above questions as they relate to the Marine Corps by exploring the current understanding of climate change and presenting a case study to help answer each question above. Both of the case studies focus on geographically different areas yet provides a common set of impacts to the Marine Corps. Understanding how the operating environment will change and what affect that change will have on future missions is the key to informing sound strategies and adapting to future climate change.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 24, 2015
Accession Number
AD1175992

Entities

People

  • Bryan E. Patterson

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amphibious Operations
  • Civil War
  • Climate Change
  • Department Of State
  • Droughts
  • Environmental Protection
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Marine Corps Operations
  • Military History
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Sea Level
  • Sea Level Rise
  • Storm Surges
  • United States Pacific Command
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.