HW_Sea Level NYC

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Electrical Engineering

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Dec 6, 2023

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EES 0836 Sea Level Rise in New York City Disasters: Geology vs. Hollywood Introduction We are going to start by examining some trends in relative sea level change. “Relative sea level changes” refer to changes in sea level relative to a point on land that is also changing. Individual coastlines undergo their own vertical changes due to tectonic activity, erosion, coastal subsidence, etc., so although global sea level as a whole is currently rising, different geographic areas are experiencing different local relative rates of sea level rise. In some places (like parts of Alaska), tectonic activity is causing gradual uplift of the coastline, so local relative sea level is actually falling, even while global sea levels rise. Learning Objectives : ● Indicate how sea level rise will have an impact on coastal areas in New York City. (2, 5, c) ● Criticize how the government responds to preparing our coastal areas for future flooding events. (2,3, d) Part 1 : National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Navigate to the NOAA Sea Level Trend viewer. You should see a map like the one included that shows parts of North America and Central America. Take a look at the legend below the map, illustrating sea level trends listed in millimeters per year, and, in parentheses, feet per century. Every arrow on the map represents a different station along the coast that collects sea level data. The sea level trend measurement for each station can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate arrow.

EES 0836 Part 2 : New York City Zoom in on the map by clicking on “East Coast”. Compare the colors of the relative sea level trend arrows around Philadelphia and New Orleans. 1. What is the average relative sea level trend around Philadelphia? Express your answers in mm/year, and make sure that your answer includes whether the sea level trend is positive (rising) or negative (dropping). The trend is positive, rising about 3.07 mm per year. 2. What is it around New Orleans? Express your answers in mm/year, and make sure that your answer includes whether the sea level trend is positive (rising) or negative (dropping). The trend is positive, rising about 6.22 mm per year. 3. What do you think might explain the difference in relative sea level trends between Philadelphia (and most of the East Coast) and the area of the Gulf Coast around New Orleans? The areas in which Philadelphia and New Orleans are located explain why they have different sea level trends. New Orleans is closer to the Gulf Coast which is rising at a faster rate than the East Coast. Let’s focus on the area around NYC. Zoom in on the map so you can see the 4 individual arrows in this area clearly. For reference, here is a map of the five boroughs of New York City. We are going to focus on the two sea level trend arrows that fall within the limits of NYC itself. These are “The Battery” at the southern tip of Manhattan, and “Bergen Point” on the northern part of Staten Island. 1. What is the relative sea level trend at each of these two locations? a. The Battery: 2.9 mm per year b. Bergen Point: 4.37 per year 2. What is the average trend for NYC if we take the average of these two points? Express your answers in mm/year, and make sure that your answer includes whether the sea level trend is positive (rising) or negative (dropping). The trend is positive, rising on average 3.64 mm per year.

EES 0836 3. NYC experienced significant coastal flooding as a result of the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Based on your answer to Question 3, how much has relative sea level changed in NYC since Hurricane Sandy hit? Express your answers in mm, and make sure that your answer includes whether the sea level trend is positive (rising) or negative (dropping). We will see a greater extent and greater frequency of coastal flooding from storms even if the storms don’t get any stronger. In 2012, the sea level was rising at an average positive rate of about 0.07 mm per year. Since then, the trend has been positive and it has risen about 0.05 mm since Hurricane Sandy. 4. If you own property along the coastline in New York City, would these trends concern you? Explain your reasoning. The trends would concern me depending on my location in New York City. That is because gradually over time, it will begin to go further into the coastline, impacting infrastructure, housing, natural resources, and more. I would fight for NYC to install draining systems or sea walls to help the negative effects from increasing sea levels. Part 3 : Flooding With a population of nearly 20 million people and 2400 km of coastline, the NYC region is susceptible to even small changes in sea level. As sea levels rise, the magnitude and frequency of coastal flooding increases. While it is impossible to attribute a single storm, like Hurricane Sandy, entirely to climate change, higher sea levels certainly did increase the extent and magnitude of the coastal flooding. When scientists and stakeholders consider potential impacts of sea level rise, they often consider a particular area’s susceptibility to a 100-year flood event and how sea level rise could increase the probability of a 100-year flood in the area. The included figure shows the extent of the 100-year floodplain in 2013 (just post-Sandy) and estimates of the extent of the 100-year floodplain in the 2020s and 2050s as it changes due to rising sea levels.

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EES 0836 1. Compare the geographical extent of the floodplains and floodplain projections in the provided figure. What can you say about the predicted future changes in the extent of the 100-year floodplain compared to the location of the 2013 100-year floodplain? The 2013 100-year floodplain impacts Queens and upper and lower Staten Island the most. Then as we go into the 2020s and 2050s 100-year floodplain, much more of Queens is impacted by the rising sea level. Overall, as time goes on the extent of the floodplain further impacts the coasts. 2. Which boroughs do you think are most at risk from increased coastal flooding as a result of rising sea levels? Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Bronx, and Manhattan. 3. Given what you know about cities (population, waste, utilities, business, industry, etc.), what would be the environmental impact from future flooding events in NYC? There would have to be evacuation protocols and some kind of prevention system whether it be a draining system or a sea wall to help prevent the effects of flooding events. 4. Given everything you have seen in this exercise, what, if anything, do you think NYC should be doing about all this? The sea level will only continue to rise, so people should be educated about what is happening and why. They should be educated on how they can help prevent and how to react when events occur. NYC should also be making regulations that influence people to lower their carbon footprint – especially big companies. 5. Considering that flooding events are relatively infrequent, does this frequency of flooding events impact your answer? No, because climate change will slowly alter the ways of the environment over time. Making changes now is going to only help in the future. Part 4 : Sea Walls? Because of our warming climate and sea levels rising globally, many governments and/or agencies are concerned with protecting our coastal areas from flooding. Since we focused on NYC throughout this activity, we will continue to do so for this last part. Read the article from the New York Times about a Sea Wall in Staten Island and answer the following questions. 1. Do you think constructing a 6-mile-long sea wall is the best way to protect Staten Island? Explain why or why not.

EES 0836 I think constructing a 6-mile-long sea wall is a good way to protect Staten Island from rising sea levels because it can help with flooding and the protection of infrastructure, housing, natural resources, and more. I do not think it is the best way to protect Staten Island from flooding because it is a temporary prevention method. 2. Do you think constructing a wall addresses the issues associated with a warming climate and the trends in sea level, or does this wall signify that we are accepting warming/sea level rise as being inevitable? I think it does address issues associated with a warming climate and it can show in a way how we are adapting to it and preparing for the effects from it. It also can signify that we are just accepting the inevitable changes, but that hopefully is not the intention of Staten Island in building the wall. Hopefully, they will continue to take action to slow the changes happening. 3. Does the cost of the wall challenge your thinking on its construction in any way? The cost makes me think that it may not be worth the time and money. The wall will help for only so long because the sea levels will continue to rise. It is a huge investment to help for only a certain period of time. 4. Is this a ‘one size fits all’ approach, or do you think we need to do more than just build walls to fix the issues associated with rising sea levels? Explain your answer. We must do more than build walls to prevent the issues. Planting more trees, reducing big corporations’ carbon footprints, and more climate action must be implemented to help in the prevention of rising sea levels and their impacts. Companies account for the majority of CO2 emissions, and they need to start prioritizing the Earth and stop focusing on only profit. Regulations must be made in support of our planet.

HW_Sea Level NYC

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