Sea level on the east coast has risen more in the 20th century than in the last 2,000 years

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A new study could confirm that Atlantic City and other areas of southern New Jersey will one day be sunk by rising sea levels.

A team led by Rutgers University has determined that sea levels along the east coast of the United States have risen faster in the 20th century than in the last 2,000 years – the fastest growing in Garden State.

The researchers analyzed levels at six sites in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, revealing that the locations saw a rise in sea level of 1.4 inches in total between 1900 and 2000.

However, southern New Jersey had the fastest rates, at about 0.63 inches per decade in some areas and 0.6 inches in others.

Sea level rise, according to researchers, is helping to melt ice and warm the oceans as a result of climate change.

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Pictured is dwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. The photo was taken in October 2016
Here is the same photo from a month later, which shows a landscape flooded by rising sea levels

Scientists have long speculated that Atlantic City and other areas of southern New Jersey will one day be submerged by rising sea levels, and a new study could confirm this claim. Pictured is Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, showing how sea levels have risen

“The study analyzed for the first time the phenomena that have contributed to sea level change over 2,000 years in six sites along the coast, using a budget at sea level,” the team said in a statement.

Researchers have chosen to use a seal-level budget that improves understanding of the processes that drive sea level change.

Processes are global, regional (including geological, such as land transfer) and local, such as groundwater capture.

Jennifer S. Walker, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick University, said: “A thorough understanding of sea level change in long-term places for regional and local planning and to respond to future sea level rise. ”

The researchers analyzed levels at six sites in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, revealing that the locations saw a rise in sea level of 1.4 inches in total between 1900 and 2000.

The researchers analyzed levels at six sites in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, revealing that the locations saw a rise in sea level of 1.4 inches in total between 1900 and 2000.

“By learning how different processes vary over time and contribute to sea level change, we can more accurately estimate future contributions to certain sites.”

Climate change has become a major focus among the scientific community in recent years, as they have turned their eyes to islands, cities and the lowlands.

With the melting of glaciers and the warming of the oceans, sea levels make such locations more vulnerable to flooding and storm damage.

The great hurricane of 1938 showed through New England, devouring Long Island and Connecticut.

The storm, which is considered the worst in New England history, left 564 dead, more than 1,700 injured and destroyed about 15,000 infrastructures.

A more recent event occurred in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy swept through southern New Jersey and as far as Long Island, New York, and left nothing but destruction in its path.

It caused $ 70 billion in damage, cut off power from 8.5 million Americans and destroyed about 650,000 homes.

And scientists link these devastating events to rising sea levels.

“Most budget studies at sea are global and limited to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, according to a recent study.

“Researchers led by Rutgers have estimated sea level budgets for longer periods of more than 2,000 years.

“The goal was to better understand how the processes leading to sea level have changed and could shape future changes, and this sea-level budgeting method could be applied to other sites around the world.”

A recent event occurred in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy swept through southern New Jersey and as far as Long Island, New York, leaving nothing but destruction in its path. Pictured is Superstorm Sandy from Atlantic City

A recent event occurred in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy swept through southern New Jersey and as far as Long Island, New York, leaving nothing but destruction in its path. Pictured is Superstorm Sandy from Atlantic City

Using a statistical model, the scientists developed sea level budgets for six sites, dividing sea level records into global, regional and local components. They found that regional landslides - the sinking of the land since the Laurentide ice sheet receded thousands of years ago - have dominated every site's budget for the past 2,000 years.

Using a statistical model, the scientists developed sea level budgets for six sites, dividing sea level records into global, regional and local components. They found that regional landslides – the landslide since the retreat of the Laurentian ice sheet thousands of years ago – have dominated every site’s budget for the past 2,000 years.

Using a statistical model, the scientists developed sea level budgets for six sites, dividing sea level records into global, regional and local components.

They found that the regional sinking of the earth – the sinking of the land since the Laurentide ice sheet receded thousands of years ago – has dominated every site’s budget for the past 2,000 years.

Other regional factors, such as ocean dynamics and local site-specific processes, such as groundwater withdrawal that help to sink the land, contribute much less to each budget and vary over time and location.

GLACIERS AND ICE SHEETS WOULD WORK TO HAVE A “DRAMATIC IMPACT” ON GLOBAL SEA LEVELS

Global sea levels could rise to 10 meters (3 meters) if the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica collapses.

Sea level rise threatens cities from Shanghai to London to the lowlands of Florida or Bangladesh and to entire nations such as the Maldives.

In the UK, for example, a rise of 6 meters (2 meters) or more can cause areas such as Hull, Peterborough, Portsmouth and parts of east London and the Thames estuary to be at risk of sinking.

The collapse of the glacier, which could begin in the decades, could also sink important cities such as New York and Sydney.

Parts of New Orleans, Houston and Miami in the southern United States would also be particularly affected.

A 2014 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists looked at 52 sea level indicators in US communities.

It has been found that tidal floods will increase dramatically in many locations on the east and coast of the Gulf, based on a conservative estimate of projected sea level rise, based on current data.

The results showed that most of these communities will experience a sharp increase in the number and severity of tidal flood events in the coming decades.

By 2030, it is estimated that more than half of the 52 communities studied will experience, on average, at least 24 tidal floods per year in the exposed areas, implying moderate projections of sea level rise. Twenty of these communities could see a tripling or more in tidal flood events.

The mid-Atlantic coast is expected to see some of the largest increases in flood frequency. Places like Annapolis, Maryland and Washington, DC can expect over 150 tidal floods a year, and more locations in New Jersey could see 80 tidal floods or more.

In the UK, a two-meter (6.5 ft) rise by 2040 would see large parts of Kent almost completely submerged, according to the results of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in November 2016.

Areas on the south coast such as Portsmouth, as well as Cambridge and Peterborough would also be severely affected.

Cities and towns around the Humber Estuary, such as Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby, would also have heavy flooding.

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