American shores face threat of rising sea level
Report Projects 4-Foot Rise in Global Sea Level by End of Century By NITYA VENKATARAMAN
An Iditarod without snow, Florida’s coastal towns lost forever to the Gulf of Mexico, wheat farmers in Kansas without crops. What sounds like the climatic end of days could be coming a lot sooner than previously anticipated. A recent report released by the U.S. Geological Survey paints abrupt climactic shifts, including a more rapid climate change with global sea level increases of up to four feet by the year 2100 and arid climatic shifts in the North American Southwest by mid-century. Previous estimates anticipated a global sea level rise of 1.5 feet by the end of the century. The current survey, commissioned by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, estimated that the compounding effects of the loss of Arctic Sea ice will more than double previous projections by the end of the century.
