Study: Sea Level Rise Can Put U.S. Cities, Towns Underwater By 2100
WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – A new study finds the rise of sea level can threaten 1,400 cities and towns in the U.S. by the year 2100.
The study predicted that if the sea level rose 4 feet, it would flood parts of 316 municipalities.
“It’s like this invisible threat,” Benjamin Strauss, lead author of the study and a scientist at Climate Central, wrote. “These sea levels are much higher than what’s predicted this century because climate change multiplies their impact over hundreds of years.”
Strauss went on to explain in his study that even if the greenhouse gas emissions stop, sea level rising will continue.
“The current trend in carbon emissions likely implies the eventual crippling or loss of most coastal cities in the world,” Strauss went on to say.
The study stated that nearly 3.6 million Americans are already at risk because half the population already lives below the future high tide level.
Strauss wrote in the study that “the catastrophe can be shunned or alleviated with deep global pollution cuts followed by technology that can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
The study was published in the online journal Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences.