Wednesday October 23, 2024
Newsweek —
Anew study has found that powerful atmospheric rivers—narrow bands of concentrated moisture that deliver heavy rain and strong winds—could significantly contribute to sea level rise along the West Coast, exacerbating the risks of coastal flooding in the coming decades.
Researchers conducted simulations to assess how atmospheric rivers (ARs) influence ocean processes, focusing on their effects on sea surface height.
The study’s findings, published in Communications Earth & Environment, indicate that during these AR events, strong winds push ocean water toward the coast, piling up against land barriers and raising sea levels dramatically.
In regions such as Southern California and the Pacific Northwest, sea level increases caused by ARs could exceed 200 percent under worst-case scenarios of future global warming.
“To date, much of the climate change impacts literature is focused over land and population centers due to the potential for ARs to cause major flooding or relieve drought, so here we wanted to focus on the impact ARs have on the ocean,” Christine Shields, the lead author of the study, told Newsweek.