• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.692.4444; http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/Overwhelming-Risk-Full-Report.pdf

S TORMS STRIKE THE U.S. COAST EACH YEAR, sometimes with devastating force. Both the risks and the costs of flooding and wind damage to sea-side coastal communities are growing.1 Rising popula-tion and increasing development along scenic coastlines are putting more people and more valuable property in harm’s way. Accelerating sea level rise, which puts higher water levels in the path of coastal storms, is a growing threat, especially along the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States, which have seen much higher and faster rates of sea level rise than the global average.2 Global warming has resulted in stronger and more destructive hurricanes in the North Atlantic, and more frequent heavy rain events. Together, those socioeconomic and climate-related trends are driving increased property damage and loss along our coasts—costs that are pro-jected only to grow in a warming world.