Rising sea levels threaten New Jersey – study

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Rising sea levels caused by global
warming could shrink New Jersey by up to 3 percent in the next
100 years, U.S. scientists warned on Wednesday.

The Princeton University researchers also projected that as
much as 9 percent of the state’s low-lying land could be hit by
periodic coastal flooding in a trend that would devastate
property, disrupt wildlife, erode beaches, and salinate
drinking water in populated areas.

“Sea level rise is a significant and growing threat to New
Jersey,” Princeton professors Matthew Cooper, Michael Beevers
and Michael Oppenheimer wrote in the report titled “Future Sea
Level Rise and the New Jersey Coast.”

Coastal development, which has surged in recent years, is
increasingly susceptible to inundation by rising sea waters,
the erosion of beaches and low-lying areas, and storm-induced
flooding, the report said.

New Jersey’s coastal counties, which contain about 60
percent of the state’s 8.6 million people, are vulnerable to
rising sea levels because of a flat coastal plain, a gently
sloping shoreline and barrier islands, beaches and salt
marshes.

The combination can produce extensive shoreline changes
with relatively small rises in sea level, the report said.

New Jersey authorities have responded to the threat by
taking steps such as reinforcing flood-prone structures and
building up dunes, but those efforts are likely to fail, it
said.

The best response to rising sea levels is to restrict
development in vulnerable coastal areas, the researchers
concluded.

The authors called for a reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions, which many scientists believe lead to global
warming, as the most effective way of reducing the rate of
sea-level rise.

Cutting emissions would have a limited effect on sea levels
over the next 50 years, but it could slow the rate by 2100 and
beyond, the report said.

Worldwide, sea levels are expected to rise between 0.09 and
0.88 meter (0.29 and 2.88 feet) between 1990 and 2100, the
report said, citing figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change.

In New Jersey, the rise is projected at an overall 0.71
meter (2.3 feet) over the period.