US sea level to rise by 2050 as much as in past century, NOAA says

(Reuters, 18 Feb 2022) The study forecasts that sea levels along the U.S. shoreline will rise 10-12 inches (25-30cm) on average by 2050.

Sea levels around the United States will rise up to a foot over the next 30 years due to climate change, as much as they have risen in the previous century, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projected in a report on Tuesday. The study forecasts that sea levels along the U.S. shoreline will rise 10-12 inches (25-30cm) on average by 2050.

Sea levels will tend to be higher along the Atlantic and Gulf shores, because of greater land subsidence there, than along the Pacific coasts.In addition to more frequent bouts of coastal inundation associated with storm surges, rising sea levels are leading to increasing episodes of flooding from high tides alone.

Damaging coastal floods typical of today's sea levels, weather conditions and infrastructure are expected to occur more than 10 times as often in the next 30 years, Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA's National Ocean Service, said in a summary of the report."I can tell you with complete confidence that these are not the kind of changes that we grew up with," said LeBoeuf, a native of the Texas Gulf Coast.

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Reuters, 18 Feb 2022: US sea level to rise by 2050 as much as in past century, NOAA says