Watch out, NJ: Report predicts record-high flooding for East Coast

A new study concludes that both future sea-level rise and human-caused warming could combine to create record high flooding along the east and Gulf coasts within the next 100 years.

The study from researchers at Rutgers, Princeton, the NOAA and the University of Iowa considers two factors that are often examined separately.

“When you look at hazards separately, it’s bad enough, but when you consider the joint effects of two hazards together, you can get some surprises,” Radley Horton, a climate scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and study coauthor, said in an article by the institute about the study.

The sea-level has been rising for the past century more than the 8-inch global average and over a foot along the mid-Atlantic. The reason for this, according to the study, is the melting of ice and expansion of sea water which helps warm the ocean water. Storms in big North Atlantic storms are feeding off warmer waters with more energy and becoming more intense.

The study looked at climate models from five locations including Atlantic City and how those two factors would work together.