New Jersey To Experience Stronger Flooding Than Superstorm Sandy Due to Sea-Level Rise

Scientists from Rutgers and Tufts universities have concluded that the New Jersey coastline will experience more flooding than ever in the next decades due to rising sea-levels that threaten to swallow up more of the area than is projected globally.

Ken Miller, Robert Kopp, Benjamin Horton and James Browning of Rutgers and Andrew Kemp of Tufts published their work in the journal Earth's Future, which was reported on by the New Jersey News Room. Their study took into account historic and modern records of sea-levels in the region including one performed by Kemp and Horton that recreated 2,500 years of sea-level change for New Jersey.

Their conclusion was that by 2050 sea levels for New Jersey will rise by 1.5 feet, and by 2100 the sea level will gain 3.5 feet compared to the present day. This rise will be 11 to 15 inches higher than the global projected average for sea-level and could mean that the most powerful floods to ever hit the region could be on their way. These floods would be even more powerful than the ones caused by Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the state and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Ken Miller revealed that the rising sea levels can be attributed to both natural and manmade factors:

"It's clear from both the tide gauge and geological records that sea level has been rising in the mid-Atlantic region at a foot per century as a result of global average sea-level rise and the solid earth's ongoing adjustment to the end of the last ice age...In the sands of the New Jersey coastal plain, sea level is also rising by another four inches per century because of sediment compaction - due partly to natural forces and partly to groundwater withdrawal. But the rate of sea-level rise, globally and regionally, is increasing due to melting of ice sheets and the warming of the oceans."

In addition, Robert Kopp gave another reason why the state's shoreline might be enveloped by water faster than anywhere else in the world:

"Most ocean models project that the Gulf Stream will weaken as a result of climate change - perhaps causing as much as a foot of additional regional sea-level rise over this century,"

In any case, New Jersey residents may want to take interest in what may be happening to their shorelines and prepare their homes for even more devastation in the years to come.