Patrick is the Research Director for the Climate Impacts and Coastal Processes Team, which includes overseeing the development and application of the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS), coastal monitoring and process-based studies of beaches across California, and research investigating the link between climate variability and coastal hazards across the Pacific Ocean basin.
Dr. Patrick Barnard has been a coastal geologist with the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz since 2003, and is the Research Director of the Climate Impacts and Coastal Processes Team. His research focuses on storm- and climate-related changes to the beaches and estuaries bordering the Pacific Ocean. His research has been published in over 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including Nature, and presented over 100 times at scientific conferences and universities. He serves on numerous regional, national and international scientific review panels related to climate change and coastal hazards. He received a BA from Williams College, MS from University of South Florida, and PhD from UC Riverside.
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An economic evaluation of adaptation pathways in coastal mega cities: An illustration for Los Angeles
Sea level rise and uncertainty in its projections pose a major challenge to flood risk management and adaptation investments in coastal mega cities. This study presents a comparative economic evaluation method for flood adaptation measures, which couples a cost–benefit analysis with the concept of adaptation pathways. Our approach accounts for uncertainty in sea level rise projections by allowing
The influence of shelf bathymetry and beach topography on extreme total water levels: Linking large-scale changes of the wave climate to local coastal hazards
Total water levels (TWLs) at the coast are driven by a combination of deterministic (e.g.,
tides) and stochastic (e.g., waves, storm surge, and sea level anomalies) processes. The contribution of each process to TWLs varies depending on regional differences in climate and
framework geology, as well as local-scale variations in beach morphology, coastal orientation,
and shelf bathymetry. Large-scal
Dynamic flood modeling essential to assess the coastal impacts of climate change
Coastal inundation due to sea level rise (SLR) is projected to displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide over the next century, creating significant economic, humanitarian, and national-security challenges. However, the majority of previous efforts to characterize potential coastal impacts of climate change have focused primarily on long-term SLR with a static tide level, and have not comp
Storm surge propagation and flooding in small tidal rivers during events of mixed coastal and fluvial influence
The highly urbanized estuary of San Francisco Bay is an excellent example of a location susceptible to flooding from both coastal and fluvial influences. As part of developing a forecast model that integrates fluvial and oceanic drivers, a case study of the Napa River and its interactions with the San Francisco Bay was performed. For this application we utilize Delft3D-FM, a hydrodynamic model tha
Identification of storm events and contiguous coastal sections for deterministic modeling of extreme coastal flood events in response to climate change
Deterministic dynamical modeling of future climate conditions and associated hazards, such as flooding, can be computationally-expensive if century-long time-series of waves, sea level variations, and overland flow patterns are simulated. To alleviate some of the computational costs, local impacts of individual coastal storms can be explored by first identifying particular events or scenarios of i
A regime shift in sediment export from a coastal watershed during a record wet winter, California: Implications for landscape response to hydroclimatic extremes
Small, steep watersheds are prolific sediment sources from which sediment flux is highly sensitive to climatic changes. Storm intensity and frequency are widely expected to increase during the 21st century, and so assessing the response of small, steep watersheds to extreme rainfall is essential to understanding landscape response to climate change. During record winter rainfall in 2016–2017, the
Assessing and communicating the impacts of climate change on the Southern California coast
Over the course of this and the next century, the combination of rising sea levels, severe storms, and coastal erosion will threaten the sustainability of coastal communities, development, and ecosystems as we currently know them. To clearly identify coastal vulnerabilities and develop appropriate adaptation strategies for projected increased levels of coastal flooding and erosion, coastal manager
Interactions of estuarine shoreline infrastructure with multiscale sea level variability
Sea level rise increases the risk of storms and other short‐term water‐rise events, because it sets a higher water level such that coastal surges become more likely to overtop protections and cause floods. To protect coastal communities, it is necessary to understand the interaction among multiday and tidal sea level variabilities, coastal infrastructure, and sea level rise. We performed a series
Projected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 2: Tools for assessing climate change-driven coastal hazards and socio-economic impacts
This paper is the second of two that describes the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) approach for quantifying physical hazards and socio-economic hazard exposure in coastal zones affected by sea-level rise and changing coastal storms. The modelling approach, presented in Part 1, downscales atmospheric global-scale projections to local scale coastal flood impacts by deterministically computing
A model ensemble for projecting multi‐decadal coastal cliff retreat during the 21st century
Sea cliff retreat rates are expected to accelerate with rising sea levels during the 21st century. Here we develop an approach for a multi‐model ensemble that efficiently projects time‐averaged sea cliff retreat over multi‐decadal time scales and large (>50 km) spatial scales. The ensemble consists of five simple 1‐D models adapted from the literature that relate sea cliff retreat to wave impacts,
Projected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 1: Development of the third generation CoSMoS model
Due to the effects of climate change over the course of the next century, the combination of rising sea levels, severe storms, and coastal change will threaten the sustainability of coastal communities, development, and ecosystems as we know them today. To clearly identify coastal vulnerabilities and develop appropriate adaptation strategies due to projected increased levels of coastal flooding an
Estimating fluvial discharges coincident with 21st century coastal storms modeled with CoSMoS
On the open coast, flooding is largely driven by tides, storm surge, waves, and in areas near coastal inlets, the magnitude and co-occurrence of high fluvial discharges. Statistical methods are typically used to estimate the individual probability of coastal storm and fluvial discharge occurrences for use in sophisticated flood hazard models. A challenge arises when considering possible future cli
Non-USGS Publications**
Barnard, P.L., Owen, L.A. and Finkel, R.C., 2004. Style and timing of glacial and paraglacial sedimentation in a monsoonal-influenced high Himalayan environment, the upper Bhagirathi Valley, Garhwal Himalaya. Sedimentary Geology, Volume 165, p. 199-221, doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2003.11.009
Barnard, P.L., Owen, L.A., Sharma, M.C. and Finkel, R.C., 2004. Late Quaternary (Holocene) landscape evolution of a monsoon-influenced high Himalayan valley, Gori Ganga, Nanda Devi, NE Garhwal. Geomorphology, Volume 61 (1-2), p. 91-110, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2003.12.002
Barnard, P.L., 2003. The Timing and Nature of Glaciofluvial Erosion and Resedimentation in the Himalaya: the Role of Glacial and Paraglacial Processes in the Evolution of High Mountain Landscapes. Published Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Riverside, 295 pp.
Davis, R.A., Jr. and Barnard, P.L., 2003. Morphodynamics of the barrier-inlet system, west-central Florida. Marine Geology, Volume 200 (1-4), p. 77-101, doi:10.1016/S0025-3227(03)00178-6
Finkel, R.C., Owen, L.A., Barnard, P.L. and Caffee, M.W., 2003. Beryllium-10 dating of Mount Everest moraines indicates a strong monsoonal influence and glacial synchroneity throughout the Himalaya. Geology, Volume 31, p. 561-564, doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0561:BDOMEM>2.0.CO;2
Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C., Ma, H., Spencer, J.Q., Derbyshire, E., Barnard, P.L. and Caffee, M.W., 2003. Timing and style of Late Quaternary glaciation in northeastern Tibet. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Volume 115 (11), p. 1356-1364, doi:10.1130/B25314.1
Owen, L.A., Ma, H., Derbyshire, E., Spencer, J.Q., Barnard, P.L., Zeng, Y.N., Finkel, R.C. and Caffee, M.W., 2003. The timing and style of Late Quaternary glaciation in the La Ji Mountains, NE Tibet: evidence for restricted glaciation during the latter part of the Last Glacial. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplemental Volume 130, p. 263-276, ISBN 978-3-443-21130-1
Owen, L.A., Spencer, J.Q., Ma, H., Barnard, P.L., Derbyshire, E., Finkel, R.C., Caffee, M.W. and Zeng, Y.N., 2003. Timing of Late Quaternary glaciation along the southwestern slopes of the Qilian Shan, Tibet. Boreas, Volume 32, p. 281-291, doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2003.tb01083.x
Van der Woerd, J., Owen, L.A., Tapponnier, P., Xiwei, X., Kervyn, F., Finkel, R.C. and Barnard, P.L., 2003. Giant, ~M8 earthquake-triggered ice avalanches in the eastern Kunlun Shan, Northern Tibet: characteristics, nature and dynamics. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Volume 116 (3), p. 394-406, doi:10.1130/B25317.1
Barnard, P.L., Owen, L.A., Sharma, M.C. and Finkel, R.C., 2001. Natural and human-induced landsliding in the Garhwal Himalaya of Northern India. Geomorphology, Volume 40, p. 21-35, doi:10.1016/S0169-555X(01)00035-6
Davis, R.A., Jr. and Barnard, P.L., 2000. How anthropogenic factors in the back-barrier influence tidal inlet stability: examples from the Gulf Coast of Florida, USA. In: Pye, K. and Allen, J.R.L. (Eds.), Coastal and Estuarine Environments: sedimentology, geomorphology and geoarchaeology. Geological Society, London, Special Publication Number 175, p. 293-303, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.2000.175.01.21
Barnard, P.L. and Owen, L.A., 2000. A selected bibliography for Late Quaternary glaciation in Tibet and Bordering Mountains. Quaternary International, Volume 65/66, p. 193-212
Barnard, P.L. and Davis, R.A., Jr., 1999. Anthropogenic vs. natural influences on inlet evolution: west-central Florida. Coastal Sediments ’99 Conference Proceedings, Fire Island, New York, Volume 2, p. 1489-1504
Barnard, P.L., 1998. Historical Morphodynamics of Inlet Channels: West-Central Florida. Master’s Thesis, University of South Florida, 179 pp.
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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An economic evaluation of adaptation pathways in coastal mega cities: An illustration for Los Angeles
Sea level rise and uncertainty in its projections pose a major challenge to flood risk management and adaptation investments in coastal mega cities. This study presents a comparative economic evaluation method for flood adaptation measures, which couples a cost–benefit analysis with the concept of adaptation pathways. Our approach accounts for uncertainty in sea level rise projections by allowing
The influence of shelf bathymetry and beach topography on extreme total water levels: Linking large-scale changes of the wave climate to local coastal hazards
Total water levels (TWLs) at the coast are driven by a combination of deterministic (e.g., tides) and stochastic (e.g., waves, storm surge, and sea level anomalies) processes. The contribution of each process to TWLs varies depending on regional differences in climate and framework geology, as well as local-scale variations in beach morphology, coastal orientation, and shelf bathymetry. Large-scalDynamic flood modeling essential to assess the coastal impacts of climate change
Coastal inundation due to sea level rise (SLR) is projected to displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide over the next century, creating significant economic, humanitarian, and national-security challenges. However, the majority of previous efforts to characterize potential coastal impacts of climate change have focused primarily on long-term SLR with a static tide level, and have not compStorm surge propagation and flooding in small tidal rivers during events of mixed coastal and fluvial influence
The highly urbanized estuary of San Francisco Bay is an excellent example of a location susceptible to flooding from both coastal and fluvial influences. As part of developing a forecast model that integrates fluvial and oceanic drivers, a case study of the Napa River and its interactions with the San Francisco Bay was performed. For this application we utilize Delft3D-FM, a hydrodynamic model tha
Identification of storm events and contiguous coastal sections for deterministic modeling of extreme coastal flood events in response to climate change
Deterministic dynamical modeling of future climate conditions and associated hazards, such as flooding, can be computationally-expensive if century-long time-series of waves, sea level variations, and overland flow patterns are simulated. To alleviate some of the computational costs, local impacts of individual coastal storms can be explored by first identifying particular events or scenarios of iA regime shift in sediment export from a coastal watershed during a record wet winter, California: Implications for landscape response to hydroclimatic extremes
Small, steep watersheds are prolific sediment sources from which sediment flux is highly sensitive to climatic changes. Storm intensity and frequency are widely expected to increase during the 21st century, and so assessing the response of small, steep watersheds to extreme rainfall is essential to understanding landscape response to climate change. During record winter rainfall in 2016–2017, theAssessing and communicating the impacts of climate change on the Southern California coast
Over the course of this and the next century, the combination of rising sea levels, severe storms, and coastal erosion will threaten the sustainability of coastal communities, development, and ecosystems as we currently know them. To clearly identify coastal vulnerabilities and develop appropriate adaptation strategies for projected increased levels of coastal flooding and erosion, coastal managerInteractions of estuarine shoreline infrastructure with multiscale sea level variability
Sea level rise increases the risk of storms and other short‐term water‐rise events, because it sets a higher water level such that coastal surges become more likely to overtop protections and cause floods. To protect coastal communities, it is necessary to understand the interaction among multiday and tidal sea level variabilities, coastal infrastructure, and sea level rise. We performed a seriesProjected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 2: Tools for assessing climate change-driven coastal hazards and socio-economic impacts
This paper is the second of two that describes the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) approach for quantifying physical hazards and socio-economic hazard exposure in coastal zones affected by sea-level rise and changing coastal storms. The modelling approach, presented in Part 1, downscales atmospheric global-scale projections to local scale coastal flood impacts by deterministically computingA model ensemble for projecting multi‐decadal coastal cliff retreat during the 21st century
Sea cliff retreat rates are expected to accelerate with rising sea levels during the 21st century. Here we develop an approach for a multi‐model ensemble that efficiently projects time‐averaged sea cliff retreat over multi‐decadal time scales and large (>50 km) spatial scales. The ensemble consists of five simple 1‐D models adapted from the literature that relate sea cliff retreat to wave impacts,Projected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 1: Development of the third generation CoSMoS model
Due to the effects of climate change over the course of the next century, the combination of rising sea levels, severe storms, and coastal change will threaten the sustainability of coastal communities, development, and ecosystems as we know them today. To clearly identify coastal vulnerabilities and develop appropriate adaptation strategies due to projected increased levels of coastal flooding anEstimating fluvial discharges coincident with 21st century coastal storms modeled with CoSMoS
On the open coast, flooding is largely driven by tides, storm surge, waves, and in areas near coastal inlets, the magnitude and co-occurrence of high fluvial discharges. Statistical methods are typically used to estimate the individual probability of coastal storm and fluvial discharge occurrences for use in sophisticated flood hazard models. A challenge arises when considering possible future cliNon-USGS Publications**
Barnard, P.L., Owen, L.A. and Finkel, R.C., 2004. Style and timing of glacial and paraglacial sedimentation in a monsoonal-influenced high Himalayan environment, the upper Bhagirathi Valley, Garhwal Himalaya. Sedimentary Geology, Volume 165, p. 199-221, doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2003.11.009Barnard, P.L., Owen, L.A., Sharma, M.C. and Finkel, R.C., 2004. Late Quaternary (Holocene) landscape evolution of a monsoon-influenced high Himalayan valley, Gori Ganga, Nanda Devi, NE Garhwal. Geomorphology, Volume 61 (1-2), p. 91-110, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2003.12.002Barnard, P.L., 2003. The Timing and Nature of Glaciofluvial Erosion and Resedimentation in the Himalaya: the Role of Glacial and Paraglacial Processes in the Evolution of High Mountain Landscapes. Published Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Riverside, 295 pp.Davis, R.A., Jr. and Barnard, P.L., 2003. Morphodynamics of the barrier-inlet system, west-central Florida. Marine Geology, Volume 200 (1-4), p. 77-101, doi:10.1016/S0025-3227(03)00178-6Finkel, R.C., Owen, L.A., Barnard, P.L. and Caffee, M.W., 2003. Beryllium-10 dating of Mount Everest moraines indicates a strong monsoonal influence and glacial synchroneity throughout the Himalaya. Geology, Volume 31, p. 561-564, doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0561:BDOMEM>2.0.CO;2Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C., Ma, H., Spencer, J.Q., Derbyshire, E., Barnard, P.L. and Caffee, M.W., 2003. Timing and style of Late Quaternary glaciation in northeastern Tibet. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Volume 115 (11), p. 1356-1364, doi:10.1130/B25314.1Owen, L.A., Ma, H., Derbyshire, E., Spencer, J.Q., Barnard, P.L., Zeng, Y.N., Finkel, R.C. and Caffee, M.W., 2003. The timing and style of Late Quaternary glaciation in the La Ji Mountains, NE Tibet: evidence for restricted glaciation during the latter part of the Last Glacial. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Supplemental Volume 130, p. 263-276, ISBN 978-3-443-21130-1Owen, L.A., Spencer, J.Q., Ma, H., Barnard, P.L., Derbyshire, E., Finkel, R.C., Caffee, M.W. and Zeng, Y.N., 2003. Timing of Late Quaternary glaciation along the southwestern slopes of the Qilian Shan, Tibet. Boreas, Volume 32, p. 281-291, doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2003.tb01083.xVan der Woerd, J., Owen, L.A., Tapponnier, P., Xiwei, X., Kervyn, F., Finkel, R.C. and Barnard, P.L., 2003. Giant, ~M8 earthquake-triggered ice avalanches in the eastern Kunlun Shan, Northern Tibet: characteristics, nature and dynamics. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Volume 116 (3), p. 394-406, doi:10.1130/B25317.1Barnard, P.L., Owen, L.A., Sharma, M.C. and Finkel, R.C., 2001. Natural and human-induced landsliding in the Garhwal Himalaya of Northern India. Geomorphology, Volume 40, p. 21-35, doi:10.1016/S0169-555X(01)00035-6Davis, R.A., Jr. and Barnard, P.L., 2000. How anthropogenic factors in the back-barrier influence tidal inlet stability: examples from the Gulf Coast of Florida, USA. In: Pye, K. and Allen, J.R.L. (Eds.), Coastal and Estuarine Environments: sedimentology, geomorphology and geoarchaeology. Geological Society, London, Special Publication Number 175, p. 293-303, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.2000.175.01.21Barnard, P.L. and Owen, L.A., 2000. A selected bibliography for Late Quaternary glaciation in Tibet and Bordering Mountains. Quaternary International, Volume 65/66, p. 193-212Barnard, P.L. and Davis, R.A., Jr., 1999. Anthropogenic vs. natural influences on inlet evolution: west-central Florida. Coastal Sediments ’99 Conference Proceedings, Fire Island, New York, Volume 2, p. 1489-1504Barnard, P.L., 1998. Historical Morphodynamics of Inlet Channels: West-Central Florida. Master’s Thesis, University of South Florida, 179 pp.**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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