Chesapeake region leads in sea level rise

Sabri Ben-Achour in WAMU.org: Communities across the globe are beginning to come to grips with climate change and sea level rise. One of the places where the water is rising especially quickly is right here in the Chesapeake Bay region. The Chesapeake Bay has areas which are experiencing among the highest rates of sea-level rise on the East Coast. This is because the ground in many areas is sinking.

Towns are starting to see the effects and they're bracing for it. But there's more than just climate change behind the rising tide. The beach in Ocean City is a major tourist draw, it stretches hundreds of feet from the board walk, with giant dunes studded with grasses a little farther south. This beach would probably not be here right now if it weren't for the fact that tons of sand are brought in every few years to replenish it, especially after major storms.

"Beach replenishment serves as storm protection for the town of Ocean City. It's the equivalent of the levees in New Orleans for us," says Terry McGean, the Ocean City beach engineer. "They dredge sand from a couple miles offshore, and we pump that material onto the beach and basically bring the beach back."

Storms and erosion aren't new, but there's something else going on here, that's making every storm a little more serious: Tidal gauges here have measured an increase in sea level. It's gone up seven inches over 30 years -- that's 5.5 millimeters per year, and almost two feet per century.

Dr. John Boon, a professor emeritus with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, says the sea level is rising throughout this region, and some parts have it particularly bad. "We have relative sea-level rise rates that are the highest on the U.S. East Coast," he says…

Ocean City, Maryland, in a US Army Corps of Engineers photo