14 DAY TRIAL // While most people only think about melting ice caps when they hear about global warming, it seems that the water's continuous thermal expansion need also be listed as a cause for rising sea levels.
New studies show that the US Atlantic coast is more likely to be affected by this phenomenon in the not-too-distant future, primarily because sea levels in this part of the world are rising four times faster than the global average.
Recent information made public in the Nature Climate Change journal warns us that, ever since the end of the 20th century, two to four millimeters have been continuously added to the sea levels here on a yearly basis.
This caused researchers to name this region a “hotspot” in terms of flooding potential.
Thus, the cities of New York, Norfolk and Boston could end up being taken over by oceanic waters every other three years, as opposed to once in a century, which is the present “standard”
What worries specialists is that these areas are some of the most densely populated in the world, so naturally the damages inflicted by waters here would be far greater than they would be in other parts of the globe.
According to USGS, US's Atlantic coast is affected by sea level rise more than other regions as a result of a disruption in the natural circulation of oceanic currents.
Oceanographer Kara Doran explains how “As fresh water from the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet enters the ocean, it disrupts this circulation, causing the currents to slow down.”
She then goes on to say that “When the Gulf Stream current weakens, sea levels rise along the coast and the greatest amount of rise happens north of where the Gulf Stream leaves the coast (near Cape Hatteras).”
From where we stand, it is crucial that appropriate measures against global warming are taken as soon as possible, otherwise we might one day wake up and realize that it is too late.