Storm surges, rising seas and flood risks in metropolitan Buenos Aires

BARROS, VICENTE; MENÉNDEZ, ANGEL; NATENZON, CLAUDIA; KOKOT, ROBERTO; CODIGNOTTO, JORGE; RÉ, MARIANO; BRONSTEIN, PABLO; CAMILLIONI, INÉS; LUDUEÑA, SEBASTIÁN; RÍOS, DIEGO; GONZÁLEZ, SILVIA

Climate Change and Vulnerability

Earthscan/ TWAS/ START

Lugar: London; Año: 2008; p. 117 - 133

The metropolitan region of Buenos Aires, which is the political, financial and cultural centre of Argentina, is located on the argentine coast of the Plata river, and is home to nearly of a third of the country´s population. The total namber of peaple living along the Plata river coast, including the Buenos Aires region, is almost 14 millons. A considerable portion of this coastal area is low -lying land, between 2.8 and 5m above mean sea level, and is often subject to recurrent storm surges floods, which are common to this region due to the unique features of the Plata river estury. Such strom surges floods, locally known as sudestadas, are expected to become more frequent as the mean sea level rises due to Global Climate Change. The very low-lying areas will, in fact, probably be permanently flooded by the end of the century. These areas are, however, largely uninhabited due to the frequentl exposure to the strom surges and, as a result, the social impact of furure permanent flooding is expected to be small. Climate chang vulberability in this coastal zone would therefore be mostly conditioned by the its future exposure to extrem storm surges, especially in the densely areas of metropolitan Buenos Aires, where this phenomenon is presently not as common.