00:56 Sea Level Rise Accelerating Along U.S. Coasts Sea level rise is speeding up along U.S. coasts and that’s bad news for the 40 percent of Americans who live in coastal areas.

At a Glance The annual report card uses data from 32 tide-gauge stations in 16 states.

All but five showed higher sea levels in 2019, and most showed sea level rising at a faster pace.

The data is a "game changer" in terms of planning for flooding and other impacts. The speed of sea level rise increased along United States coastlines in 2019, a sign that some locations could be headed for worst-case-scenario flooding and other impacts predicted by climate models, according to an annual report that uses data from more than 30 tide-gauge stations in 16 states.

The annual Sea Level Rise Report Card , released last week by scientists at William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, shows that sea levels rose faster than in 2018 at 28 of 32 monitored locations. The numbers are derived from tide-gauge stations along the Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coasts in the continental U.S., as well as stations in Alaska.

The three highest rates of sea-level rise in 2019 were along the Gulf Coast at Grand Isle, Louisiana, and in the Texas cities of Galveston and Rockport. The biggest increase in pace of sea level rise happened in Rockport.

Scientists who compiled the report said the data puts some areas on track for the worst effects of sea level rise.

"Seeing acceleration at so many of our stations suggests that — when we look at the multiple sea-level scenarios that NOAA puts out based on global models — we may be moving towards the higher projections ," VIMS marine scientist Molly Mitchell said in a news release.

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Mitchell told weather.com in an email that the change in speed of sea level rise "is not a huge shift from previous years, but the signal is a little stronger this year. If this pattern continues into the next few years, low-lying areas might want to update their planning efforts."

Previous research indicates that the current acceleration in rates of sea level rise began around 2013 or 2014.

Sea level rise is fueled by global warming that causes glaciers and ice sheets to melt and ocean temperatures to increase. The Arctic experienced its second-warmest year on record in 2019, as well as near-record ocean temperatures and ice sheet loss.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/GettyImages-1163780437.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/GettyImages-1163780437.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/GettyImages-1163780437.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > Homes sit next to the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 24, 2019, in Grand Isle, the only inhabited barrier island in Louisiana. The 2019 Sea Level Rise Report Card from William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science shows Grand Isle had the highest rate of sea level rise in the U.S. last year. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Globally, NOAA's worst-case scenario predicts sea levels could be as much as 8.2 feet higher in 2100 than they were in 2000. A rise of at least 1 foot by 2100 is considered very likely, even on a low-emissions path.

The agency has revised its numbers at least twice in recent years due to previously observed increasing rates of sea level rise.

The annual report card from VIMS looks at local rates of sea level rise. The data provides a snapshot of what could happen at specific locations over a shorter timeline. This year's report showed that sea levels in Rockport, for example, could be 2.69 feet higher in 2050 than they were in 1992, and about 1.7 feet higher in Grand Isle and Galveston.

"Our report cards show what sea level has been doing recently, what’s happening now at your locality," John Boon, VIMS emeritus professor and founder of the sea level report card project, said in the news release.

He added that the data "shows a clear trend" toward accelerated levels of sea rise.

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In contrast to other parts of the U.S., all four monitoring stations in Alaska showed sea levels falling. In this area, the coastline is continuing to rebound from the weight of ice-age glaciers that disappeared thousands of years ago. Mitchell said that's one example of how sea level rise can vary depending on local factors.

"Although there is a pattern of acceleration seen around much of the United States this year, local rates of rise can be influenced by many local factors such as ocean circulation or land sinking or rising," she said. "Understanding how sea level is changing at each gauge is important for decision-making and may lead to different parts of the country addressing sea level rise differently."

Sea level rise is of concern because it threatens infrastructure, including roads, bridges, subways and power plants. It can also make the impacts of extreme weather worse by pushing deadly and destructive storm surges farther inland, and by increasing the rate of coastal flooding from high tides combined with sea level rise, also known as "nuisance flooding."

Nuisance flooding is already 300 to 900 times more common now than it was 50 years ago, according to NOAA.

Rising sea levels also have environmental impacts on fisheries and other water supplies.

Local rates of relative sea level rise like those given in the VIMS report card "give a direct indication of the extent to which homes, buildings and roads are at risk of flooding," Boon said.

"Acceleration can be a game changer in terms of impacts and planning, so we really need to pay heed to these patterns," he said.

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