Kirstin Dow is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina. She is a lead author in the IPCC Fifth Assessment, Working Group 2 effort on Adaptation Opportunities, Constraints, and Limitations and a contributing author to the chapter on coasts. She is also Principal Investigator of the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments, an interdisciplinary research effort to bridge climate science and decision-making. She serves as a science advisor on climate change mitigation and adaptation for community and national efforts. Thomas E. Downing is President of the Global Climate Adaptation Partnership and Visiting Professor at Oxford University. He was formerly Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford Office and is a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and advisor to national and international programs on climate change.