Warning signs for Cape Cod seen on climate change

Cape Cod Times: The erosion that chased away Chatham cottage owners from their oceanfront property cannot be directly attributed to global warming. But, scientists say, it is the kind of geological event that we could see more of in the future, if the current global-warming- induced rise in sea levels continues unabated.

It's just one of the warning bells sounded in a recently released federal report, authored in part by three Woods Hole researchers. Benjamin Gutierrez, E. Robert Thieler and S. Jeffress Williams of the U.S. Geological Survey at the Woods Hole Science Center helped pen the report on climate change and rising sea levels for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.

…Although Williams said his group of 20 researchers focused mainly on the mid-Atlantic coast, he said the acceleration of rising sea levels due to higher concentrations of greenhouse gases could have a major effect on coastal regions such as Cape Cod.

The relative sea level rise in the mid-Atlantic region was roughly 1 foot during the last 100 years. Williams said the increase could be up to 3 feet or more over the next century. As global temperatures increase, ocean waters get warmer and the threat of more intense and frequent storms is greater. While the colder water off the Northeast coast means category 4 and 5 hurricanes will remain unlikely, Williams said an increase of tropical storms and intense northeasters can likely be expected.

"Cape Cod is a pile of sand and gravel and glacial debris that is very susceptible to erosion from sea level rise and storms," Williams said. "We can expect the rate of shoreline retreat will increase." Williams said evidence of these occurrences already exist.

Eastham, Massachusetts, on the Cape, shot by Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License