Authors: Micah Kwok, Katherine Cielo, Lailah Fields, Ayesha Qaiser, Nimra Younis, and Danil Gurshumov.

Did you ever wonder how rising sea levels impacted society and the way we live today? Sea Levels are increasing in the level of the world’s oceans due to the effects of global warming.  Even if we stop, the sea level will not stop rising for another decade or maybe centuries. This poses a serious threat to many coastlines causing the increased intensity of storm surges, floods, and damage to coastal areas.

Floods are more extreme than ever before

            Sea levels have been rising for hundreds of years. This is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed and solved. The cause of this issue goes from warmer weather to the melting of glacier ice. In addition, the ocean absorption of atmospheric heat made by man-made activity is also another cause of this issue. Because of this, the escalating sea levels have drastically increased over time. Climate change source states, “In many locations along the U.S. coastline, high-tide flooding is now 300% to more than 900% more frequent than it was 50 years ago.” Flooding is now more likely to occur now that sea levels have been drastically rising. Even today we are viewing mass flooding and relentless storms throughout New York City. This is causing a lot of danger and damage everywhere.

NYC has been trying to solve this problem, so there can be fewer problems in the future. New York City is building a $335 million flood wall in Manhattan, seawalls are built on the coast to decrease flooding from tides and storms, they are often built to a height of five to six feet above sea level. In Addition, Coastal communities can restore and build up natural infrastructure that can act as a buffer against storms and coastal flooding. Natural structures such as barrier islands, oyster and coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, and salt marshes can work in unison with built infrastructure, such as seawalls, to absorb storm surges. We can also use beaches as a natural defense against rising sea levels. Our beaches have a lot of sand and we can use it to build dunes. Those dunes can protect us from rising sea levels because they can be very tall and wide. It also costs less and takes less time to build than sea walls because the sand is on the beach. This makes building dunes on the beach much easier than building sea walls. As communities come together and become aware of the situation, we can all solve this issue to ensure a positive and happy future for us and our loved ones.

Sea level accelerating over time

                                 

The negative impact of rising sea levels will continue to accelerate if people don’t put the effort into fixing it. Solutions like seawalls can be a positive turn to solving this problem. In about an average of 20-30 years, sea levels will have risen up to 10-12 inches. This will increase the chances of flooding about ten times the average that it takes place this year. If no change occurs in this time period the damage will be irreversible.

Sources (Where we got the pictures and information): https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/09/new-york-city-storm-flooding-climate-change

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/sealevelrise/sealevelrise-tech-report.html#:~:text=Sea%20level%20along%20the%20U.S.,years%20(1920%20%2D%202020)

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/rhea-suh/inaction-climate-change-will-leave-us-lost-sea