What the future — and nature — will bring us
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation made some sobering predictions on the rise of sea levels for Long Island (see chart, below).
The DEC reports that “New York has experienced at least a foot of sea-level rise since 1900, mostly due to expansion of warming ocean water.”
By the end of the century, sea levels “could be 18 to 50 inches higher than today along New York’s coastlines and estuaries, though a rise as high as 75 inches could occur.”
The problem, the DEC reports, is heat-trapping greenhouse gasses that are already present in the atmosphere, and continued or accelerated emissions will increase the rise of seal levels.
Below are the DEC’s sea level projections for the Long Island region, including Shelter Island.
