‘King tides’ are rising, so groups span globe to monitor it

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Acqua alta, Venice, Italy. Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care

Excerpts;

From coast to coast, hundreds of tide watchers come out with their cameras to record the latest ‘king tides,’ brief episodes of tidal flooding that could become the norm, with expected sea-level rise.

King tides are a colloquial term for the highest tides of the year. They occur when the moon is closest to the earth at moments when the sun, moon and Earth are in alignment, increasing the gravitational forces at play.

A decade ago, few had heard of “king tides,” much less waded through them in galoshes. Now, Miami regularly floods. So does Myrtle Beach, Charleston and other U.S. cities. And more than ever, groups of citizens are out there photographing the results, uploading the pics and debating what the future will bring…

Read Full Article, The Sacramento Bee (12-08-2017)

King Tides: What Explains High Water Threatening Global Coasts? The National Geographic (03-09-2014)

Turning tides: a glimpse into our future with rising sea levels; SUP (06-22-2016)

We can’t ignore the rising sea; By Orrin H. Pilkey (06-15-2016)

As U.S. Coastal Cities Swell, Rising Seas Threaten Millions, Climate Central (03-14-2016)

Up to 70 Percent of Northeast U.S. Coast May Adapt to Rising Seas, USGS (03-14-2016)

Sea Level Rise Accelerating In U.S. Atlantic Coast, USGS (06-25-2012)

Sea level rise threatens U.S. historic sites, CBS News (04-13-2016)
Many of the most threatened sites in North America lie along the East Coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and southern Maine, where the rate of sea level rise is among the fastest in the world…

Abrupt Sea Level Rise Looms As Increasingly Realistic Threat, Yale E360 (05-11-2016)
Ninety-nine percent of the planet’s freshwater ice is locked up in the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps. Now, a growing number of studies are raising the possibility that as those ice sheets melt, sea levels could rise by six feet this century, and far higher in the next, flooding many of the world’s populated coastal areas…

Sea levels rose faster in 20th century than in previous 2,700 years, says study; CNN (02-23-2016)
Scientists have modeled a history of the planet’s sea levels spanning back 3,000 years, and concluded that the rate of increase last century “was extremely likely faster than during any of the 27 previous centuries.”

Rethinking Urban Landscapes To Adapt to Rising Sea Levels; Yale E360 (03-03-2016)
From Shanghai and Mumbai to New York and Buenos Aires, even a few feet of sea level rise threatens to flood homes and highways, inundate sewage treatment plants, and contaminate drinking water. Landscape architect Kristina Hill argues that cities need to start planning now for impacts that will happen 50 or 100 years in the future…

Five Pacific islands vanish from sight as sea levels rise, New Scientist (05-09-2016)
Five of the Solomon Islands have been swallowed whole by rising sea levels, offering a glimpse into the future of other low-lying nations…

Escaping the Waves: a Fijian Village Relocates, a Video (10-03-2015)
“When many understand climate change in concept but not through personal experience, this exhibit carries great weight…”

“Retreat from a Rising Sea,” A book by Orrin H. Pilkey, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, and Keith C. Pilkey

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