In half of this lunar cycle, Earth’s regular daily tides are diminished, with high tides lower than usual and low tides higher than usual. In the cycle’s other half, the situationis reversed, with high tides higher and low tides lower. The expected flooding will result from the combination of the continuing sea level rise associated with climate change and the arrival of an amplification part of thelunar cycle in the mid-2030s, the researchers said.
"In the background, we have long-term sea level rise associated with global warming. It's causing sea level to increase everywhere," Ben Hamlington, NASA team leaderand one of the study's authors, told Reuters.
"This effect from the moon causes the tides to vary, so what we found is that this effect lines up with the underlying sea level rise, and that will cause flooding specifically in thattime period from 2030 to 2040," Hamlington said. The study, published this month in the journal Nature Climate Change, was led by members of a NASA science team that tracks sea level change. The study focused on U.S.coasts but the findings are applicable to coasts worldwide, said NASA.
“This is eye-opening for a lot of people,” Hamlington said. “It’s really critical information for planners. And I think there’s a great amount of interest intrying to get this information from science and scientists into the hands of planners.”Hamlington said city planners should plan accordingly.
“A building or particular piece of infrastructure, you may want to be there for a very long amount of time, whereas something else you may just want to protect or have accessto for a few years."