Corps of Engineers
411 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000
INCORPORATING SEA LEVEL CHANGE IN CIVIL WORKS PROGRAMS
1. Purpose. This Regulation provides United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
guidance for incorporating the direct and indirect physical effects of projected future sea level
change across the project life cycle in managing, planning, engineering, designing, constructing,
operating, and maintaining USACE projects and systems of projects.
2. Applicability. This Regulation applies to all USACE elements having Civil Works
responsibilities and is applicable to all USACE Civil Works activities. This guidance is effective
immediately and supersedes all previous guidance on this subject.
3. Distribution Statement. This publication is approved for public release; distribution is
unlimited.
4. References. Required and related references are at Appendix A. A glossary is included at
the end of this document.
5. Geographic Extent of Applicability.
a. USACE water resources management projects are planned, designed, constructed, and
ER 1100-2-8162 ● 15
June 2019
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operated locally or regionally. For this reason, it is important to distinguish between global
mean sea level (GMSL) and local (or “relative”) mean sea level (MSL). At any location,
changes in local MSL reflect the integrated effects of GMSL change plus changes of regional
geologic, oceanographic, or atmospheric origin as described in Appendix B and the Glossary.
b. Potential relative sea level change must be considered in every USACE coastal activity
as far inland as the extent of estimated tidal influence. Fluvial studies that include backwater
profiling should also include potential relative sea level change in the starting water surface
elevation for such profiles, where appropriate. The project vertical datum must be the latest
vertical reference frame of the National Spatial Reference System, currently North American
Vertical Datum of 1988, to be held as constant for tide station comparisons, and a project datum
diagram must be prepared per Engineer Manual 1110-2-6056.
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This regulation supersedes ER 1100-2-8162, dated 31 December 2013
