As a result of rising global temperatures and melting sea ice, coastlines are shrinking.
According to Yale Climate Connections, areas along the United States’ coastlines are experiencing severe flooding more than other regions.
What’s happening?
To help advise communities as they adapt to the challenges of rising water, a research team at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science developed a Sea Level Report Card for 36 communities in the United States.
The data revealed uneven sea-level rise across the country. For example, in Grand Isle, Louisiana, the sea level is rising at a rate of 8.24mm (~0.324 inches) per year, while in Seattle, it is rising at a rate of 2.13mm (~0.084 inches) per year.
“That flooding is going to get worse in the future. How fast it’s going to get worse depends a lot on where you are,” said Molly Mitchell, an assistant professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
Why is rising sea level important?
Rising sea levels are one of the many effects of human-caused climate change.
For years, scientists have been warning coastal communities that the continued burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, will exacerbate the already-high levels of pollution in the atmosphere. This heat-trapping pollution can accelerate the melting of sea ice, leading to higher sea levels and putting millions at risk.
As sea water encroaches on the coast, billions of people will be impacted.
Not only will people lose their homes, but research from the University of Chicago also estimates that sea-level rise will cost the world economy about $3 trillion per year by the end of the century.
From an environmental standpoint, rising sea levels threaten ecosystems as they erode land-based soil, can inundate freshwater ecosystems with saltwater, and are known to supercharge flooding during extreme weather events.
What’s being done about rising sea levels?
If we cannot reduce our reliance on dirty energy sources to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, then communities will have to take action to adapt to these ever-rising water levels.
This is already happening. In the Philadelphia area, for example, officials and organizations have developed plans to stop rising sea levels from contaminating their drinking water with saltwater.
Mitchell emphasized the importance of adaptation measures to protect coastal communities from the impacts of sea-level rise.
“I think the important thing to me is that people just keep in mind that the coastline is changing, so that we develop our towns and our cities, and we build our roads and everything with the idea that the coastline in 30 years will be different from what it is now,” she said.
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