Report: U.S. Coastline to see a Foot of Sea Level Rise by 2050

The U.S. is expected to experience as much sea level rise by the year 2050 as it witnessed in the previous hundred years. That’s according to a NOAA-led report updating sea level rise decision-support information for the U.S. released in partnership with half a dozen other federal agencies.

The Sea Level Rise Technical Report provides the most up-to-date sea level rise projections for all U.S. states and territories by decade for the next 100 years and beyond, based on a combination of tide gauge and satellite observations and all the model ensembles from the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report projects sea levels along the coastline will rise an additional 10-12 inches by 2050 with specific amounts varying regionally, mainly due to land height changes.

The report updates the federal government’s 2017 sea level rise projections, and provides additional information on tide, wind, and storm-driven extreme water levels affecting current and future coastal flood risk. A suite of federal tools are using this data, including the NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer, which are critical to the Administration’s commitment to tackle the climate crisis by making actionable climate data accessible to those who need it.

“This is a global wake-up call and gives Americans the information needed to act now to best position ourselves for the future,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA Administrator. “As we build a Climate Ready Nation, these updated data can inform coastal communities and others about current and future vulnerabilities in the face of climate change and help them make smart decisions to keep people and property safe over the long run.”

The report also finds that the sea level rise expected by 2050 will create a profound increase in the frequency of coastal flooding, even in the absence of storms or heavy rainfall.

“By 2050, moderate flooding–which is typically disruptive and damaging by today’s weather, sea level and infrastructure standards–is expected to occur more than 10 times as often as it does today,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, NOAA’s National Ocean Service Director. “These numbers mean a change from a single event every 2-5 years to multiple events each year, in some places.”

This multi-agency effort is a product of the Interagency Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Hazard and Tool Task Force, composed of NOAA, NASA, EPA, USGS, DoD, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as several academic institutes. The report leverages methods and insights from both the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report and supporting research for the U.S. DoD Defense Regional Sea Level database.

STILLSTROM: OSV Charging Stations

Maersk Supply Service, a part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, is launching its offshore vessel-charging venture, Stillstrom, to support the decarbonization of the maritime industry by eliminating idle emissions. Together with Ørsted, Stillstrom will demonstrate the world’s first full-scale offshore charging station for vessels at an offshore wind farm. In Danish, “Stillstrom” means “quiet power” and today it is an early-stage technology spin-out whose full-scale product launch will reportedly be the first-to-market in offshore charging, enabling idle vessels to power from electricity. The first full-scale charging buoy will, as previously announced, be demonstrated with offshore wind leader Ørsted in Q3 2022. The power buoy will supply overnight power to one of Ørsted’s Service Operations Vessels (SOV), thereby supporting Ørsted’s target of climate-neutral operations in 2025. Ørsted will be responsible for the grid integration of the charging buoy.