Icebergs from Greenland

An impressive iceberg arrived in Newfoundland’s Goose Cove in mid-July. “Icebergs float in from Greenland,” said the photographer, Gene Patey. This one briefly blocked the town’s harbor before breaking apart and melting, “but the fishermen took their chances.”

Goose Cove East, Canada

Newfoundland’s Goose Cove

Rising Sea Levels Affect Millions Around the World, and Billions of Dollars in Property

Sea level is rising and the rate of change is accelerating. The combination of warming ocean water expanding and rapidly increasing melt of land and polar ice has increased the rate of sea level rise from about 6.8 inches average during most of the 20th C to a current rate of 12 to 14 inches inches per century. Based on this increase in rate of change, scientists are estimating that by the end of this century, the oceans will be from 20 inches to more than three feet higher -- and increasingly the higher levels seem probable.

Boca de Cangrejos, 2100

Los Angeles Ward, 2100

Isla Grande Airport, 2100

Baldorioty de Castro Highway, 2100

Casa Cuba, 2100

LMM Airport Litoral, 2100

El Escambron, 2100

New York, 2100

Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks move inland in response to ocean storms and sea level rise, leaving houses in the surf

In the United States, said a report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program in January 2009, "rising sea levels are submerging low lying lands, eroding beaches, converting wetlands to open water, exacerbating coastal flooding, and increasing the salinity of estuaries and freshwater aquifers."

Four of the top 20 cities with populations and infrastructure assets most exposed to increasing sea level and storm damage are in the United States: New York, Virginia Beach, Miami and New Orleans (study by Robert Muir-Woods and colleagues; see first link, above. Other cities listed in this study are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Alexandria, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Ningbo, Shanghai, Tianjin, Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya).

World View of Global Warming has been documenting these changes since 1999, and in March 2010 we completed a re-photography expedition to North Carolina, Florida, and parts of Chesapeake Bay. The lead photograph here, of houses condemned by county officials after a storm washed up to 70 feet of sand away from South Nags Head beach in late 2009, is featured in the Koshland Museum of Science in Washington DC.

Warming Winds, Rising Tides: Florida and the Atlantic CoastThe entire coast of Florida is threatened by rising seas and stronger surges during storms, which is already having high economic costs. Looking ahead only 40 years, a study in 2007 by Tufts University and the Stockholm Environment Institute—US Center estimated that Florida’s average annual temperatures will be 5º F higher than today in 2050. Sea-level rise will reach 23 inches by 2050, and 45 inches by 2100.

Maps in the report show an approximation of Florida’s coastline at 27 inches of sea-level rise, which is projected to be reached by around 2060 if little action is taken to control greenhouse gases.

This casts doubt on the future of the apartments, businesses, public buildings and homes that crowd the Southeast Coast. Rising sea level is also driving sea water into the Everglades, inundating mangroves, and threatening all low lying islands. Thus Florida and the Keys are the U.S. equivalent of the many island nations of the Indo-Pacific who face rising seas right now.

Sea Level Rise in the Gulf Coast

We continue to allow buildings along the shoreline. We pretend somehow the seas will recede before we have to pay the bills. We don't make the hard choices politically on land use or other economic investments. Instead, we still ask for better data before we decide.

View along beach of Chicoteague National Seashore at main access near visitor center. Atlantic Ocean shore has been steadily eroding back since the 1960s and vistor center has been moved three times since then. Fifty feet of beach was lost just in the November NorEaster in 2009. March 2010 view shows broken debris from former parking lots and electrical lines that once served bath house and restaurant -- which were at least 75 yards out, but now far into surf. Salt water has also intruded into the lagoon which had been fresh water. Pines are dying along lagoons and in lower forests due to this.