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Forecasting Change: Florida coast at risk from rising sea levels

Almost half of the water rise of the past century has occurred in the past 30 years

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sea level rise over the past century has been between six and eight inches with almost half of that occurring since 1993.

The rise is caused when land-based ice melts and flows into the ocean, and when ocean water gets warmer and expands.

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This extra and expanding water leads to higher tides and more flooding. Check out the number of concurrent coastal floods in the U.S. over the past 50 years. In this case “concurrent” means 84 different coastal tide gauges around the U.S.

Concurrent coastal floods

That is a steady climb. This has produced coastal flooding that has become almost regular. It is sometimes referred to as “chronic” or “nuisance” flooding and it happens with high tides, not on stormy days.

The flooding is putting a lot of areas of the coast at risk.

2' coastal flooding for U.S.

In Florida, we know that Miami has started having problems with flooding more and more in recent years. Scientific American has labeled Miami as the “most vulnerable coastal city worldwide.” But all of coastal Florida will feel the effects in the next generation.

What's at risk with 2 feet of coastal flooding in Florida.