<p>The record storm surge in October 2023 caused severe damage to the German Baltic coast. Effective adaptation scenarios to rising sea levels are therefore becoming increasingly urgent. In two recent studies, researchers at Kiel University have modelled both the flooding extent along the Baltic Sea coastal areas and, for the first time, two possible upgrades for current dike lines in high resolution. They modelled various storm surge and sea level rise scenarios. Their results show that, based on the current dike line, neither an increase nor managed realignment, i.e. controlled breaching of seaward defences and relocation of primary defence line further inland, as a nature-based solution can be sufficient to protect people, infrastructure or buildings to significantly reduce the risk of flooding along the German Baltic Sea coast by the year 2100. In the model, the risk for the population compared to today&#39;s existing coastal protection was only reduced by a maximum of 26% for the scenario of managed realignment. Their results were published on 24 November in the journal <em>Communications Earth &amp; Environment</em> and at the beginning of September in <em>Natural Hazards and </em><em>Earth System Sciences</em>.</p>

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