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By the mid-2030s, scientists believe that coastal regions in the U.S. will begin to experience an increase in high-tide flooding (HTF), partially due to a “wobble” in the moon’s orbit.
In a NASA-led study published in June in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers said that the planet’s lunar cycle would exacerbate sea level rise (SLR) spurred by climate change in coming years.
The study authors used scenarios and “flooding thresholds” to show how the effects of SLR and “nodal cycle modulations of tidal amplitude” lead to severe inflections in projections of future HTF.
In addition, the research – which the agency said takes all known oceanic and astronomical causes for floods into account – said annual cycles and sea-level anomalies could lead to seasons or monthslong periods during which days of HTF will cluster, resulting in “critical frequencies” of HTF occurring during monthly or seasonal periods one to two decades prior to being expected on an annual basis.
“When the moon and Earth line up in specific ways with each other and the sun, the resulting gravitational pull and the ocean’s corresponding response may leave city-dwellers coping with floods every day or two,” NASA said in a release.
While HTF or “nuisance” flooding is already an issue for coastal cities around the country – especially bordering the Atlantic Ocean – the impact of risings seas has been comparatively minor in this decade.
Nevertheless, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported a total of more than 600 nuisance floods in 2019 and noted that the national trend in such flooding is accelerating and is “more than twice as likely now as it was in 2000” due to relative SLR.
The global sea level has been rising at an increased rate in recent decades and continues to rise at a rate of about one-eighth of an inch per year.
“Low-lying areas near sea level are increasingly at risk and suffering due to the increased flooding, and it will only get worse,” warned NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The combination of the Moon’s gravitational pull, rising sea levels, and climate change will continue to exacerbate coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world. NASA’s Sea Level Change Team is providing crucial information so that we can plan, protect, and prevent damage to the environment and people’s livelihoods affected by flooding.”
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