CNN reports:

A new report provides an alarming forecast for the US: Sea level will rise as much in the next 30 years as it did in the past 100 — increasing the frequency of high-tide flooding, pushing storm surge to the extreme and inundating vulnerable coastal infrastructure with saltwater.

The interagency report, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows how scientists are increasingly confident that US coasts will see another 10 to 12 inches of sea level rise by 2050.

The implications of that forecast are enormous.

“This report is a wake-up call for the US, but it’s a wake-up call with a silver lining,” NOAA chief Rick Spinrad said at a news conference on Tuesday. “It provides us with information needed to act now to best position ourselves for the future.”

The projected sea level rise will lead to a significant increase in the frequency of coastal flooding even on sunny days, scientists report. High-tide flood events in coastal cities — New York, Washington, Miami and others — have already doubled in annual frequency since 2000, turning what researchers say used to be a “rare event” into a “disruptive problem.”

Every inch of sea level rise also amplifies hurricane storm surge, coastal erosion and wetland loss — impacts which US coasts are already well familiar with. [Continue reading…]