"The combination of the moon's gravitational pull, rising sea levels, and climate change will continue to exacerbate coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world." NASA administrator Bill Nelson said: "Low-lying areas near sea level are increasingly at risk and suffering due to the increased flooding, and it will only get worse. The floods can overwhelm storm drains, close roads and compromise infrastructure over time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). High-tide floods, also known as nuisance floods or sunny day floods, occur not because of storm surges from extreme weather or excessive precipitation, but instead when the tide rises into populated areas. The study is the first to take into account all known oceanic and astronomical causes for floods, NASA said. In a new study, published by Nature Climate Change, NASA's Sea Level Change Science Team calculated that the next wobble in the mid-2030s will amplify rising sea levels caused by climate change.Īlmost all of US mainland coastlines, as well as Hawaii and Guam, are likely to see high-tide flood numbers surge as they come under pressure from the higher seas.īut northern coastlines, including Alaska's, will be spared for another decade or longer because these land areas are rising due to long-term geological processes, researchers found. The moon's orbit, which affects the Earth's tides, has a natural "wobble" every 18.6 years that causes extremely high and low tides. But the moon’s wobble reminds us that there are extraterrestrial factors at work as well.A moon "wobble" will contribute to an increase in severe flooding in the mid-2030s, NASA has warned. This isn’t necessarily a new lesson: Earlier this year, a study in Nature found that the practice of trawling on the seabed to catch fish releases as much carbon as the global aviation industry does. NASA noted that only far-northern coastlines, including those in Alaska, will be spared the increased flooding, as “these land areas are rising due to long-term geological processes.”Īs the study shows, our understanding of the climate crisis - let alone any significant action - will become increasingly complex as the years pass. But next time around, higher seas and higher tides will coincide for more frequent and more significant tidal flooding.Īccording to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, the wobble will make “low-lying areas near sea level … increasingly at risk and suffering due to the increased flooding, and it will only get worse.” The NASA team that published the study estimates that tidal flooding will occur four times as often as in 2019, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported over 600 sunny-day flooding incidents. At the moment, we’re in an amplification cycle, though we are not experiencing extreme high tides because the global mean sea level has risen only about eight to nine inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Institute. Over its 18.6-year orbit around Earth, the moon amplifies and suppresses the tide depending on where it is in its route. As if the swirl of variables in the climate crisis weren’t complicated enough, soon the moon will have something to say about it too.Īccording to a study released this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, by the NASA Sea Level Change Team at the University of Hawaii, a moon “wobble” will cause “a decade of dramatic increases in flood numbers” beginning in the mid-2030s. A rising ocean is already causing coastal flooding in some areas on the Eastern Seaboard during high “king” tides - even without the storm systems made more dangerous by a warmer Atlantic.
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