The article I chose to discuss is “Sea Level Rise Making Floods Routine for Coastal Cities” by John Upton. It is common sense that if you live near an ocean, that flooding could happen to you at some point due to an hurricane, tidal wave, etc. But researchers are warning that increased sea levels can make flooding a more normal occurring event.
Some researchers predict that tidal flooding could become the new normal in the next 15 years; “we didn’t think it would be so soon,” said Melanie Fitzpatrick, one of three researchers at the nonprofit who analyzed tide gauge data and sea level projections, producing soused prognoses for scores of coastal Americans. “If you live on a coast and haven’t seen coastal flooding yet, just give it a few years. You will.” This is of course is very terrifying news to those that live at or near the coast.
Fitzpatrick and the other researchers used information they obtained from the recent National Climate Assessment such as intermediate-to-high sea level rise projections to help guide their predictions for future coastal flooding rates. As the article states “those projections included a rise in sea levels of five inches between 2012 and 2030, and a rise of nearly a foot between 2012 and 2045. To help consider the effects of local conditions, such as the sinking lands of the mid-Atlantic coast, the group used data compiled by Climate Central’s team of scientists”.
The researchers selected 52 locations that stretched from Portland, ME, to Freeport, Texas. Theses locations were selected because the of the number of flood advisories based on local tide gauge recordings there. This allowed researchers to use historical flooding rates and compare those with projected future rates.
According to Upton’s article, “these 52 communities studied can expect a tripling in the frequency of high-tide flooding during the next 15 years, the researchers concluded. Half of the communities studied are expected to be flooded more than two dozen times every year by 2030.
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