Welcome to the latest installment of “Writer Fuel – cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration. Today:
Coastal communities in the United States, be forewarned. A “dramatic” surge in high-tide floods is just over a decade away in the US, according to NASA.
The rapid increase will start in the mid-2030s, when a lunar cycle will amplify rising sea levels caused by the climate crisis, found a new study led by the members of the NASA Sea Level Change Science Team from the University of Hawaii. Only far northern coastlines, such as Alaska’s, will get at least another decade’s respite because long-term geological processes are leading to these land areas rising.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, is the first to take into account all known oceanic and astronomical causes for floods, the agency said in a news release.
High-tide floods involve less water than storm surges from a hurricane, but the study’s lead author warns that doesn’t mean they are a less significant problem overall. “It’s the accumulated effect over time that will have an impact,” said Phil Thompson, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii’s department of oceanography, in a news statement.
