By MARK SCIALLA/ecoRI.org
News contributor
Portions of the
Atlantic Coast are experiencing sea level rise at a rate of three to four times
faster than the rest of the planet, according to a U.S. Geological Survey
report published this summer in Nature Climate Change.
From Cape Hatteras,
N.C., to Boston, scientists have considered this 600–mile coastal stretch a hot
spot for sea level rise. Since 1990, sea levels have increased 2 to 3.7
millimeters annually. The report expects sea levels to rise if global
temperatures continue to increase.
Rhode Island’s rate of
sea level rise is on the lower end of that spectrum, at about 2.7 millimeters a
year, according to Janet Freedman, a coastal geologist with the Coastal
Resources Management Council (CRMC).
“The Mid-Atlantic is
rising faster than Rhode Island, but we are definitely rising,” Freedman said.
“Those long-term trends are about 3.9 millimeters per year.”
Models show rates of
sea level rise in the Ocean State accelerating as the global climate warms. The
waters of Rhode Island’s coast are expected to rise a foot by or between 2030
and 2050 — it took more than 100 years before today for the sea to rise
that much. Sea levels could rise 3 to 5 feet by 2100.
Three to five feet
isn’t very high, but with increasingly powerful storms as a result of climate
change, seas could rise higher and be more destructive.
“That’s not bad until
you have a storm,” Freedman said. “That’s when you have big impacts. I think
Rhode Island is going to have to prepare each community more.”
Unlike some states
with threatened coastlines such as North Carolina, which forbids coastal planners from using
the most up-to-date science, Rhode Island is taking proactive steps to prepare
for a rising sea.
“The Department of
Transportation is doing a study of some of the detailed maps to do a road and
infrastructure analysis,” said Pam Rubinoff, a coastal management specialist at
the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.
Rhode Island has 2,705
buildings below a meter below sea level, and several coastal wastewater
facilities are at risk, according to Rubinoff. Since 2008, Rhode Island has had
a policy that CRMC planning should consider a 3- to 5-foot sea level rise by
2100. The General Assembly also added a provision in the Land Use Act that
requires communities to come up with an element that addresses the hazards of
sea level rise.
Rhode Island also has
strict building regulations that determine how and where to build in coastal
areas. The rules require buildings in coastal flood zones to be built higher
than federal requirements. Older houses aren’t subject to the same codes.
While state agencies
and nonprofits such as Save The Bay are taking proactive steps to prepare Rhode
Island communities for the future, Rubinoff said it will also take individuals,
homeowners, community members and business leaders to address the issue to make
the state less vulnerable to the rising sea.
“There is always more to do, at least in Rhode
Island,” Freedman said. “There are a lot of people working on it. It is a
challenging issue. It is a daunting task, but we are working on it.”