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About WDN: World Deltas Network
Global climatic changes during this century will bring about dramatic changes in
the coastal regions of the world. In recent years, much thought has been
directed towards the consequences of such changes on the continental
landscapes. If a major marine transgression initiates because of global warming
the area of maximum impingement will be at the coastline. The effects will be
many: ranging from changing selection pressure on all terrestrial coastal
biocoenoses as the area of habitat diminishes to the regional changes in the
effects of geological processes of erosion or transportation and radical alteration
of the coastal landscape. Predicted global rise in sea level is estimated to be
between 61 and 213-cms in this century. For this reason a major thrust towards
understanding the coastal regions of the Earth is occurring. In the United States
of America, a lot of this interest is associated with coastal Louisiana. Louisiana is
the most vulnerable area in the United States and forecasts that up to 90% of the
Mississippi River Plain will be lost by the year 2100 may be excessive but are not
unrealistic. Population increase is on a line of direct conflict with coastal stress
because most of the world’s population lives close to an ocean. Similar
scenarios are in numerous other deltaic regions of Earth.
Because the deltaic coastal regions play such a prominent part in human
activities they are important sectors of government concern and resource
management efforts. For this reason the World Deltas Data Base [WDD] was
initiated to provide a location where knowledge on Deltas can be gathered, and
made available to the public, to researchers and to regional administrators.
The WDD has three knowledge components.
The WDD Local Web Site
It is hoped that the WDD website will
be mirrored locally so that a consistent front-end is achieved
globally. The website contains the following kinds of knowledge.
- General data on each delta, relating to location,
climate, vegetation, sedimentology, hydrology etc.
The data will be consistent across all deltas.
- General written description of each delta including
characteristics such as tidal range, annual weather
characteristics, vegetation, soil and land-use maps,
photographs and diagrams.
- URL links to a distributed network of websites that
contains local and regional information pertinent to
local deltas.
The WDD Archival Web Site
The archival website is a single
location where datasets scattered throughout the globally
distributed WDD websites can be archived. Individuals can
download specific datasets from the archival web site and
can submit data to be considered for archiving. The archival
website will be in the public domain and freely available to all
users. Periodically it will make available datasets and
updates on DVD so that any individual or organization can
build the entire archived knowledge base locally.
The WDD network website. This is a general administrative
and collaborative website providing current information about
data, meetings, publications, and people. The network
website ties all other WDD websites to a common portal
where data is shared, and reachable [i.e. they are named
and linked].
The initial regional WDD local website is located at Louisiana State University
[www.geol.lsu.edu/wdd01]. The WDD archival website will be located at the
Boulder Data Center, NOAA. The WDD network website currently is located at
www.nexial.org\d2.
The plan for year 2005 is to establish WDD distributed websites locations
globally at sustainable locations. These sites will collect data sets on local deltas
and allow links to those datasets from all other WDD locations.
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Objective
To further knowledge about integrated science and ecosystem-based management in river-delta-ocean systems, focusing on deltas as key components, indicators, and integrators.
Benefits of a World Deltas Database
Deltas are extremely important units of the coast, and their associated river and marine systems. They are key integrators and indicators of processes in entire watersheds, and key filters and transformers of materials and energy for the marine environment. They are important regions for humanity in their own right, providing ecosystem goods and services, and they are highly sensitive indicators of change. The scientific value of a global deltas database includes:
- To improve understanding of deltas individually and in comparison.
- To use change in deltas across regions or the globe as a natural indicator of broad scale phenomena, such as climate change and variability, and human impact on watershed and delta hydrology.
- To improve understanding of deltas as components of the white water to blue water system, so that system models can be developed for forward and reverse prediction.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee will evaluate and evolve the structure and function of the WDN and determine priorities for its development. The WDN-SC will also seek out new data and research partnerships and opportunities. Two workshops are planned. The first will define the leadership and organization of the global network (WDN) and its continuing mission. The second will assess current science and management needs to scope the direction and magnitude of future development.
WDN Web Site
This Website is intended to be a "one-stop" node providing access to distributed data, research products, integration tools, and collaboration opportunities for integrated science and management of world deltas.
WDN Poster
World Delta Network – Delta Change (D2) Project: Area of Influence and Delta Boundary Files (PDF)
Other WDN Sites
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