Wave climate is a primary driver of coastal risk, yet how climate change is altering wave climate is not fully understood. Here we identify transitional wave climate regions, coastlines with a future change in the occurrence frequency of a wave climate, with most of the regions located in south-western and eastern ocean basins. Analysis of the spatio-temporal changes in the atmosphere-driven major wave climates (the easterlies, southerlies and westerlies) under 2 emission scenarios for 2075–2099 and 2081–2099 shows increases in frequency from 5 to 20% for the easterly and southerly wave climates. The projected changes in these regions, in addition to sea-level rise and changes in storminess, can modify the general patterns of the prevailing wave climates and severely alter their coastal risks. Consequently, transitional wave climate regions should be recognized as areas of high coastal climate risk that require focus for adaptation in the near term.

波浪气候是沿海风险的主要驱动因素，但气候变化如何改变波浪气候尚不完全清楚。在这里，我们确定了过渡波浪气候区域，即未来波浪气候发生频率发生变化的海岸线，大部分区域位于西南和东部海洋盆地。对 2075-2099 和 2081-2099 两种排放情景下大气驱动的主要波浪气候（东风、南风和西风）的时空变化分析表明，东风和南风的频率从 5% 增加到 20%气候。除了海平面上升和暴风雨的变化外，这些地区的预计变化可以改变普遍波浪气候的一般模式并严重改变其沿海风险。最后，