Future atmospheric rivers could bring catastrophic ocean level rise off the West Coast, simulation study shows
A team of climate specialists from the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Climate and Global Dynamics Lab, Texas A&M University, and Pennsylvania State University has found evidence for a rise in ocean levels during future atmospheric rivers (ARs) that form in the Pacific Ocean and make their way to the North American coast.
In their paper published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the group describes their study of previous ARs and how they applied what they learned to ARs of the future, when taking into account global warming.
Over the next century, dramatic changes to the world's climate are expected, from warming temperatures to more rain in some places and less in others. Another aspect of climate change that has not received as much press is the ongoing changes to the world's oceans. In addition to warmer air over the oceans, the water temperature is also growing warmer.
The same carbon dioxide that is helping to warm the planet is also making the oceans more acidic—and ocean levels around the world have been rising as ice from the polar regions has been melting. Together such changes are expected to have a major impact on ARs. Most models suggest they will not only happen more often but they will bring much more rain and higher winds.
In this new study, the research team notes that there is another impact from ARs that has not been very well studied—ocean level rise along the part of the shoreline where ARs come ashore, which is similar in some respects to storm surges from hurricanes.
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