Going to the beach in summer is a familiar and beloved annual event for many families in the Southeast.  It is also a popular pastime in Europe.  The Guardian published a provocative article this week on how changes in climate could affect beach tourism in Europe as the climate continues to warm, and how in future years visitors might head to the Baltic instead of the Mediterranean for their summer holidays.  You can read the article here.

Would increasing temperatures have a similar effect in the United States?  Certainly as sea levels continue to rise, land use along the coasts will change, and beaches that once were popular might be drowned in a few decades.  Or they might migrate inland with the rising seas, or coastal communities might try to find ways to buttress their beaches from the invading sea.

Changes in temperature might also make it too hot to enjoy vacations in the Deep South and induce people to look farther north for their summer fun.  Or the heat inland might drive more people to the beach, where the cooler water would reduce the impacts of the heat.  This is a huge concern for coastal communities that get a significant portion of their income from beach tourism, and one that does not have any easy answers.

Source: Yinan Chen / Commons Wikimedia
Daytona Beach.  Source: Yinan Chen / Commons Wikimedia