Rising Oceans and Watery Landmarks
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by Eun Kyung Kim Associated Press April 28, 2007
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An inconvenient truth or not, global warming is increasingly accepted as cold, hard reality. Numerous scientific reports released this year confirm the world is getting warmer, and sea levels are rising because of it.
The most conservative estimates predict sea levels will creep up by five inches by century's end; some scientists say two feet. And hurricanes are only exacerbating the problem.
Numerous spots along the East Coast, home to generally lower shorelines than the West Coast, are at risk of ending up underwater - it may not be in your lifetime, or even in your children's, but most experts say it's inevitable.
With that in mind, here's a rundown of four spots along the Atlantic where experts say local landmarks have a significant potential for getting submerged by rising waters.
BOSTON
Roughly half of this city was built on filled land, so it made sense to Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student Matt Alvarado to offer a "Boston Underwater Walking Tour" earlier this year.
"We started in the Haymarket area, which was originally a millpond. It's dry land now only because it's landfill," said the Earth, atmospheric and planetary science student.
Alvarado's tour, while presented tongue firmly in cheek, also took a serious look at climate change and the science behind it.
Storm surges and sea level rise also could create a Beantown brain drain since many of the dozens of universities and colleges in the area are located at low elevations.
NEW YORK
Mayor Michael Bloomberg acknowledged much of the city is at risk for floods when he created the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability to help protect the city's infrastructure from climate change.
He has reason to plan now, experts say. For the most part, the entire city is at risk because so much of it sits on a series of islands.
A strong category 3 hurricane, similar to Katrina, could bring storm surges powerful enough to submerge both LaGuardia and JFK airports.
Much of low-lying downtown Manhattan is considered extremely vulnerable.
Also in jeopardy is the city's transportation system, since most of the subway system and tunnel entry points lie at elevations of 10 feet or less.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Any tourist visiting during the summer can tell you the nation's capital was built on a swamp.
A storm last June gave the district a glimpse at how vulnerable it is to flooding. The deluge damaged several government buildings and a few Smithsonian museums.
In addition to older federal buildings, the monumental core also is at risk.
So does Reagan Washington National Airport, which is made up entirely of landfill and now sits at less than 10 feet above sea level.
"When National was built back in the 1930s and '40s, nobody knew anything about sea level rise. They just wanted to get it above flood stage of the Potomac River," said Williams, of the U.S. Geological Survey. "They didn't factor in possible long-term effects like we're facing today."
SOUTH FLORIDA
Miami Beach and all the other popular sandy shorelines in south Florida represent a top tourist attraction for the state. But because they are within five or six feet of sea level, they also happen to be at high risk of flooding.
Rising sea levels, along with high storm surges, also could doom the Florida Keys, which has a similar elevation.
"There's no high ground to speak of," said Stephen Leatherman, director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University. "They get fairly good surges there - maybe 12, 15 feet - but realize that a lot of the land is only five, seven feet above sea level, so that pretty much puts you underwater pretty quickly."
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Source: Associated Press
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