A federal analysis warns that along the US coastline, the sea levels would rise by as much as they did in the whole 20th century in the next 30 years. Thus, causing costly floods even on sunny days in key Eastern towns.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and six other federal agencies released a 111-page report on Tuesday. Seas lapping against the US shore will be 10 to 12 inches (0.25 to 0.3 meters) higher by 2050. Parts of Louisiana and Texas are predicted to see waters a foot and a half (0.45 meters) higher.
“Make no mistake: Sea level rise is upon us,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service.
The expected increase is especially concerning given that sea levels along the Atlantic coast climbed at the quickest rate in 2,000 years throughout the twentieth century.
LeBoeuf cautioned that the price would be significant. Also, pointing out that the coast is home to much of the American economy and 40% of the people.
Ocean service oceanographer William Sweet is the report’s senior author. According to him, the worst of the long-term sea-level rise from the melting of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland is unlikely to occur until after 2100.
Red Flag
Warmer water expands, and ice sheets and glaciers that melt provide more water to the world’s oceans.
The research “is the equivalent of NOAA sending a red flag” about accelerated sea-level rise, according to Andrea Dutton. She is a sea-level-rise expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who wasn’t involved in the federal report. Current coastal flooding in the US “will get taken to a whole new level in just a couple of decades.”
“We can see this freight train coming from more than a mile away,” Dutton said in an email. “The question is whether we continue to let houses slide into the ocean.”
Because of sinking land, currents, water from glacial melt, the sea level rises faster in some locations than in others. The United States will see a slightly higher sea-level rise than the rest of the world. The Gulf and East Coasts will see the highest increase. The West Coast and Hawaii will get less than average, according to Sweet.
Analysis
As per analysis, between now and 2060, expect over 25 inches (0.63 meters) of sea-level rise in Galveston, Texas. It will be just under 2 feet (0.6 meters) in St. Petersburg, Florida, but only 9 inches (0.23 meters) in Seattle and 14 inches (0.36 meters) in Los Angeles.
Higher seas do far more damage when storms like hurricanes hit the coast. But they’re also becoming an issue on sunny days.
Cities like Miami Beach, Florida, Annapolis, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia, presently see minor “nuisance” floods during high tides each year. But by mid-century, several “moderate” floods will replace them that inflict property damage, according to the experts.
Increasing risk
“It’s going to be areas that haven’t been flooding that are starting to flood,” Sweet said in an interview. “Many of our major metropolitan areas on the East Coast are going to be increasingly at risk.”
As per analysis, the western Gulf of Mexico coast will have the worst by the biggest sea level increase. It will be 16 to 18 inches (0.4 to 0.45 meters) by 2050. That translates to more than ten moderate property-damaging sunny-day floods and one “major” high-tide flood occurrence per year.
By 2050, the eastern Gulf of Mexico should expect a sea-level rise of 14 to 16 inches (0.35 to 0.4m). It will have three moderate sunny-day floods each year. The Southeast coast should experience afoot to 14 inches (0.3 to 0.35 meters) of sea-level rise. It will have four moderate sunny-day floods per year by mid-century. The Northeast coast should undergo 10 inches to a foot (0.25 to 0.3 meters) of sea-level rise. The Northeast coast will have six moderate sunny-day floods per year.
By mid-century, Hawaiian Islands and Southwestern coast should expect a 6 to 8 inch (0.15 to 0.2 m) sea-level rise. The Northwest coast will only witness a 4 to 6-inch rise (0.1 to 0.15 meters). More than ten minor nuisance sunny-day floods will occur annually along the Pacific coast. But there will be only approximately one moderate flood will occur a year, with Hawaii receiving even less.
And that’s only until the year 2050. By the end of the century, the research predicts a 2-foot rise in sea level in the United States. It will be more in the East and less in the West.
