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Faster Rising Seas Projected for Florida

Associated Press

   KEY WEST, FLORIDA - New scientific projections released Wednesday
   predict that ocean levels will rise even faster than previously
   forecast over the next four decades in low-lying southeastern Florida,
   which is already prone to frequent flooding even on sunny days.

   Compared with estimates made in 2015, the new prediction is for about 5
   inches (12 centimeters) in additional sea level rise under a moderate
   outlook by 2060. The projection was released as part of a meeting of
   the Southeast Florida Climate Leadership Summit, which covers densely
   populated Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.

   About 3 inches (7 centimeters) of rising seas have already occurred
   between 1992 and 2019 in the region, according to the new study. It's
   become common at high tides --especially the most robust king tides
   --to flood roads, parks, yards and structures as the water continues to
   creep upward. Sometimes the water pushes up through inland stormwater
   systems.

   ``This is what gets people freaking out,'' said Gus Zambrano, assistant
   manager for the city of Hollywood. ``It's a wake-up call.''

   The previous overall estimate for sea level rise affecting the region
   called for about 2 feet (60 centimeters) higher in 2060 than water
   levels generally were in 2000. Now, the forecast calls for almost 2.5
   feet (73 centimeters) of encroaching water over that time span.

   Ice in Greenland, Antarctica

   Jayantha Obeysekera, director of the Sea Level Solutions Center at
   Florida International University and one scientist involved in the new
   projections, said the key variable will be whether an increasingly
   warming planet undergoing climate change will cause ice sheets in
   Greenland and Antarctica to melt more rapidly than previously thought.
   Other factors are rising ocean temperatures and changes in currents
   such as a slowing Gulf Stream.

   ``This is the latest, best available science,'' Obeysekera said in an
   interview at the climate summit in Key West. ``We have multiple
   scenarios based on the melting of ice."

   The projection included input from about a dozen scientists, local
   government staff experts and officials from the National Oceanic and
   Atmospheric Administration.

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