U MD Study: State Must Prep For Sea Level Rise Of Up To 6.6 Feet; Nuisance Flooding Now 40 Days/Yr.
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“It actually has some good news and bad news,” said Donald Boesch, lead author of the report and former UMCES president. “The bad news is that there’s more evidence that unless we really limit warming to the Paris Agreement level… sea level rise could be higher than we thought. The good news is that if we’re on the emissions pathway that get us to the Paris Agreement, it’s much more manageable.”
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In any scenario, places along tidal waterways will become wetter. Nuisance flooding that occurred just a few times a year in places like the Annapolis city dock during the 1950s now takes place 40 or more days per year. Even under the best-case scenarios, according to the report, flooding there and in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor would become a near-daily occurrence. Meanwhile, storm surges during hurricanes would become much more dangerous.
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The report, which is updated every five years, represents the consensus of an expert group of climate scientists from the mid-Atlantic region. It differs from the 2013 report by including alternative future scenarios based on whether nations successfully limit temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius, as called for in the Paris agreement. Through 2050, the report said, the most likely range of sea level rise in Maryland would be 0.8 to 1.6 feet (measured from a 2000 baseline), though there is a 5 percent chance of it exceeding 2 feet.
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The extent to which emissions are reduced would begin to have a more pronounced impact in the second half of the century and become even greater after 2100, driven mostly by the loss of polar region ice, especially in Antarctica. If no further actions are taken to curb global emissions through the end of this century, sea level rise in Maryland by 2150 would range from 3.4 to 6.6 feet, with a 1-in-20 chance it could exceed 8.5 feet. If the Paris Agreement goals are met, the likely range of increase would be kept to 1.8 to 4.2 feet.
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https://www.bayjournal.com/article/md_sea_level_to_increase_dramatically_report_says
