Sea Level Rise Is Accelerating in Florida, Scientists Warn

In dozens of locations along Florida's 1,350-mile coastline, sea level rise is no longer an esoteric discussion or a puzzle for future generations to solve.

Sea level rise is happening now and is forecast to worsen over the next 20 to 30 years.

Canal systems in Fort Lauderdale and Coral Gables have become a liability.  For officials in Port Orange and Longboat Key, fortifying storm drains against encroaching seawater is a concern.  Along the Withlacoochee River on Florida's Gulf Coast and the Matanzas River at Marineland, residents report finding saltwater species they've never seen before in those waterways.

Federal gauges stationed around the state's coast document the slowly rising water.  After decades of almost imperceptible increases, the sea began rising faster about 30 years ago, said William Sweet, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  It jumped again beginning in 2006.  Now NOAA reports sea levels are rising along parts of the Florida coast by more than a third of an inch every year.

The average person visiting a favorite beach or fishing hole surely won't notice the difference.  But soon, if the trend of the past 30 years continues, the impact will be hard to miss.
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"Until the last couple of years, the only time the water would have come over the seawall would have been for a named tropical event or one of the extraordinary nor'easters," said Henderson, executive director of Stetson University's Institute of Water and Environmental Resilience.  In the fall of 2015 and 2016, he said, "the water came out of the banks on cloudless, breezeless days."

A coast in peril
Mid-range projections by NOAA scientists — not the worst-case scenario — put the seas around Florida up to 17 inches higher by 2030, with the highest rise at Mayport, Fernandina Beach and Daytona Beach.

With just a 9-inch rise in sea level, NOAA advisories for coastal flooding capable of causing "significant risks to life and property" could occur 25 times more often, said Sweet, lead author of NOAA's January report describing the updated sea level scenarios.  Higher seas would push seawater inland in waterfront areas along bayfronts in Sarasota and Apalachicola and in low-lying areas along the St. Johns, Suwanee and other rivers, flooding neighborhoods with increasing frequency and longer duration.

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