The health of our Indian River Lagoon and coastal ocean waters are linked to climate change. The increasing effects of ocean and atmosphere heating, can offset regional and local efforts to restore and maintain the health of these systems.

Around the country, diverse estuarine and ocean resources are increasingly at risk. Florida’s 156 mile long Indian River Lagoon is a model to understand and respond to the increased heating of essential coastal ecosystems. 

Our Partners and Sponsors

The health of our Indian River Lagoon and coastal ocean waters are linked to climate change. The increasing effects of ocean and atmosphere heating, can offset regional and local efforts to restore and maintain the health of these systems.

Around the country, diverse estuarine and ocean resources are increasingly at risk. Florida’s 156 mile long Indian River Lagoon is a model to understand and respond to the increased heating of essential coastal ecosystems. 

Our Partners and Sponsors

The health of our Indian River Lagoon and coastal ocean waters are linked to climate change. The increasing effects of ocean and atmosphere heating, can offset regional and local efforts to restore and maintain the health of these systems.

Around the country, diverse estuarine and ocean resources are increasingly at risk. Florida’s 156 mile long Indian River Lagoon is a model to understand and respond to the increased heating of essential coastal ecosystems. 

Our Partners and Sponsors

The health of east Florida’s 160 mile long Indian River Lagoon and similar coastal ecosystems around the globe are linked to climate.  Ocean and atmospheric heating continue to increase with many cascading impacts (National Climate Assessment, 2023; NASA, 2025).  Diverse environmental, economic, and social resources face increasing challenges in many estuary and ocean regions.

This resource has sections on Environmental Impacts, Economic Impacts, and What We Can Do, with subsections within.  Short summaries and over 100 linked references are provided on major issues at local through connected international scales.  The latest comprehensive economic analysis of the Indian River Lagoon estimates a regional value of over $28 billion (Balmoral Group, 2025) – more information on what’s at stake is in Economic Impacts.  

Effects from climate change can co-vary, i.e., a change in one system can cause changes in connected systems in ways that are difficult to predict.  For example, the increasing heat content in estuarine and ocean waters affects all of the categories below.  The impacts of climate change as well as the underlying geophysical mechanisms are well-summarized in reviews such as IPCC (2019), Dahlman and Lindsey (2020), National Climate Assessment (2023) and various sections of NASA (2025).  These and over 100 citations on other pages contain decades of findings and informed recommendations to reduce impacts to our lands, waters, and communities.