OUR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AT RISK

The document explains that global sea level has risen approximately eight inches since the Industrial Revolution, driven primarily by thermal expansion and the melting of land ice due to global warming. It highlights that the U.S. East and Gulf coasts are experiencing some of the world's fastest rates of rise. Projections for 2100 range from 8 inches to 6.6 feet, with significant risks of permanent inundation, amplified storm surges, and shoreline erosion for over 100 million Americans living in coastal counties. The report argues that while adaptation is necessary, reducing heat-trapping emissions is the most effective way to limit the pace and magnitude of future sea level rise.

• Global sea level has risen approximately eight inches since the Industrial Revolution, with the rate of increase accelerating. Between 1993 and 2008, the global rate rose to 0.11 to 0.13 inch per year, representing a 65 percent to 90 percent increase over the twentieth-century average.
• Global warming is the primary driver of sea level rise, acting through two main mechanisms: thermal expansion of warming ocean waters and the melting of land ice (glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets). While thermal expansion was the dominant driver for the first 75 to 100 years after the Industrial Revolution, the contribution from shrinking land ice has accelerated in recent decades, accounting for 75 percent to 80 percent of the total increase from 2003 to 2007.
• Certain regions of the United States are experiencing sea level rise at rates significantly higher than the global average. The coastline from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico saw some of the fastest rates in the twentieth century, ranging from 0.10 inch per year in Boston to 0.38 inch per year in Louisiana.
• Future projections for global sea level rise by 2100 range from 8 inches to 6.6 feet above 1992 levels. Even if global emissions were reduced to zero by 2016, a rise of 1.2 to 2.6 feet is still projected by 2100 due to the delayed response of oceans and land ice to past emissions.
• Over 100 million people, or roughly one-third of the U.S. population, live in coastal counties, which generate 42 percent of the national GDP. States with the most land less than 3.3 feet above high-tide levels include Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, California, and South Carolina.
• Sea level rise increases coastal vulnerability through three primary dynamics: amplifying storm surges that penetrate further inland, increasing shoreline erosion (where land loss can be 100 times greater than the sea level rise itself), and causing permanent inundation of low-lying lands. A two-foot rise would put over $1 trillion of U.S. property at risk, with about half of that value in Florida.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2013). OUR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AT RISK. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/Causes-of-Sea-Level-Rise.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. OUR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AT RISK. 2013. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/Causes-of-Sea-Level-Rise.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=OUR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AT RISK |date=April 2013 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/Causes-of-Sea-Level-Rise.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2013our, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{OUR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AT RISK}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2013}, month = apr, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/Causes-of-Sea-Level-Rise.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }