Multiple United States coastal regions may see rapid increases in the number of high-tide flooding days in the mid-2030s, according to a study led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and published in Nature Climate Change.
Multiple United States coastal regions may see rapid increases in the number of high-tide flooding days in the mid-2030s, according to a study led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and published in Nature Climate Change. The combined effects of sea-level rise and natural fluctuations in tidal range are anticipated to cause tipping points in the frequency of high-tide flooding.
Coastal locations around the U.S., particularly along the Atlantic coast, are experiencing recurrent flooding at high tide. The impact of high-tide flooding accumulates over numerous, seemingly minor occurrences, which can exceed the impact of rare extremes over time. These impacts are subtle—for example, the loss of revenue due to recurrent road and business closures—compared with the physical damage of property and infrastructure associated with extreme storm-driven events.
“We expect the most rapid increases to be along the U.S. Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, which includes Hawaiʻi and other Pacific Islands. This is important, because this is the point at which high-tide flooding transitions from being primarily a local or regional issue and becomes a national issue affecting a majority of our nation’s coastlines,” said lead author Phil Thompson, director of the UH Sea Level Center and assistant professor of oceanography in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).
Read more at University of Hawaii at Manoa
Photo Credit: Hawaiʻi Sea Grant King Tides project
