A new study revealed that the storm tide in New York City has increased in the past 170 years. Scientists worry that this may cause extensive and dangerous flooding in the area.
Researchers from Portland State University in Portland, Ore., found that storm tides have increased by up to two and a half feet. This indicates that the probability of water overcoming the city's seawall is 20 times greater than it was in the past 170 years. Similarly, researchers observed that the New York harbor's levels increased by a foot and a half, and this might imply that storm tides have also increased by a foot during the same period.
The study's lead author Stefan Talke expressed his concern about new environmental threats looming before the city. He predicted that the a "10-year" storm slated to hit New York City may result in a stronger and bigger tide, as well as storm surges. He also explained that any storm passing through the Big Apple has a ten percent chance of creating a water wall about two meters in height. Talke compared data of the maximum height - 1.7 meters - which was first logged in the 19th century.
"What we are finding is that the 10-year storm tide of your great-, great-grandparents is not the same as the 10-year storm tide of today," Talke said in a press release.
The researchers took images of handwritten tide measurements kept by the U.S National Archives from 1844 for their analysis. They then encoded the data into a database and augmented missing details from newspaper reports of storms. Their conclusion was made after calculation and trend identification of the past storms.
According to scientist at NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services Chris Zervas, the findings of the study suggest that storm surges near New York City may have been made stronger and larger, due to the sea level rise.
"For the latter part of the 1900s, [it shows] that the possibility of overtopping the seawall has increased quite a bit in addition [to the sea level rise]," he said, as quoted by the press release.
This study was published on the April 23 issue of the Geophysical Research Letters.
