Since 1900, global average sea level has risen about 8 inches. In New Jersey, sea level has risen even faster – about 1.4 feet over that same period.
Since 1900, global average sea level has risen about 8 inches. In New Jersey, sea level has risen even faster – about 1.4 feet over that same period. This is primarily because the land here is sinking, due to both natural forces – the land was pushed up by a giant ice sheet 20,000 years ago and is now relaxing downward – and to groundwater pumping.
Geological records from salt marshes in New Jersey and other sites around the world demonstrate the extraordinary nature of the 20th-century rise in sea level: Both in the global average and locally, it was faster than over any comparable period in at least 3,000 years. And this rise is accelerating due to a warming ocean, melting mountain glaciers and shrinking polar ice sheets.
We are already feeling the effects of sea-level rise. A higher sea means it takes less of a tide or a storm to cause coastal flooding. Sea-level rise has increased the frequency of minor tidal flooding in shore communities about 20-fold since the 1950s. And it exposed about 40,000 New Jerseyans to Superstorm Sandy’s floodwaters who would not have otherwise been affected. With about 600,000 New Jerseyans living within 10 feet of the high tide level in terms of elevation – areas potentially vulnerable to sea-level rise and coastal flooding over the next century – sea-level rise will increasingly affect communities in ways as diverse as land use, infrastructure, property taxes and emergency management.
Read more at Rutgers University
Photo Credit: AJRPROJ via Pixabay
