Robert  Bell

Coastal Specialist

Rob has been involved for 25 years in consulting and research on natural hazards, coastal/shelf physical oceanography, climate change and water quality. As well as being directly involved in coastal environmental projects for Clients, he is also the Science Leader–Natural Hazards at NIWA. The research also encompasses the risk and vulnerability natural hazards pose to coastal communities and engineering lifelines. Examples of Rob’s particular expertise include: coastal inundation from storm surge and tides; tsunami; sea-level rise; damaging waves and winds; maritime/port hazards; coastal erosion; general risk assessments, education and warning systems. He coordinates the open-coast sea-level network around New Zealand and is working on the NZ tsunami detection/warning system.