Sea Levels Rising Faster Along Southern U.S. Coast Than Elsewhere

"Sunny day flooding" at high tides in Florida and the 
Gulf Coast are becoming more frequent as sea level
is rising much faster in the Gulf of Mexico than 
in most other places. 

 We all know sea levels worldwide are rising due to climate change. Glaciers are melting, ice is thawing in Greenland, parts of Antarctica are also seeing weird thaws.  

One thing that's not really intuitive is that sea levels don't rise at the same pace all over the world. Some places see faster rises, and in other places it's meh. 

This has to do with how fast the ocean is warming in a particular location, whether ocean currents are changing and whether land along the coast is actually sinking. 

Which brings us to the coastline of the South, mostly involving the Gulf of Mexico. 

A recent studies by has indicated that sea levels there really jumped ahead in recent years. Water levels along the Gulf Coast have risen by nearly five inches since 2010.  That's more than double the world wide average.

One of the studies was authored by Jianjun Yin, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona.

Five inches doesn't sound like much, but in flat coastal areas, it can mean a big difference. Especially during powerful storms. As the Washington Post explains: 

"Yin's study suggested that Hurricanes Michael and Ian, two of the strongest storms ever to hit the United States, were made considerably worse in part from additional sea level rise. 

'It turns out that the water level associated with Hurricane Ian was the highest on record due to the combined effect of sea-level rise and storm surge, ' Yin said." 

This will continue to be a problem as hurricanes inevitably keep smashing into the Gulf coastline and southeastern United States. Meanwhile, for some reason, people are still moving in droves to high risk places in the South. 

What happens when the water gets deeper. Some of these properties will end up below water. Or become so prone to storm damage that they lose their value. Which also means coastal cities will lose chunks of their tax bases.

Part of the problem with Gulf Coast sea level rise is that land along coastal areas in Texas and Louisiana have also been sinking. That hasn't been nearly a big a problem in most of Florida, but the rapid sea level rise in the Gulf still spells trouble for the Sunshine State.

The studies only go back a little more than a dozen years, so scientists still don't know if this rapid uptick is just a blip in geological time or a worsening long term trend. 

The Gulf of Mexico has warmed up a lot over the past decade. Warmer water expands, which could explain much the surge in Gulf water levels.  Climate change will keep putting upward pressure on water temperatures, but we don't know if the pace of that warming will stay the same as in recent years. 

The studies also indicate sea level rise is much faster than the worldwide average along the southeast Atlantic coast as far north as Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 

Whatever happens, sea levels will keep rising for the foreseeable future worldwide at varying paces due to climate change. Some will have it worse than others, apparently.