Barren fields and eerie, dead forests on Maryland’s Eastern Shore are some of the obvious signs of an “invisible flood”.
Barren fields and eerie, dead forests on Maryland’s Eastern Shore are some of the obvious signs of an “invisible flood” that a University of Maryland researcher is studying with the help of a new five-year, $725,000 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Saltwater intrusion, a process in which groundwater becomes more saline while floods carry salt directly onto agricultural fields, is claiming more land as climate change intensifies, driving sea level rise. In Maryland’s Somerset County, for instance, 2% of farmland turned into tidal marshes over an 8-year period from 2009 to 2017.
Because of the powerful forces at play, it’s not a dynamic that can be reversed anytime soon, said Kate Tully, an associate professor of agroecology.
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Image via Edwin Remsberg.
