US Coastline losing ground to rising seas and subsidence
… A recent study in Nature estimates sea level rise for US coastlines of up to a full foot by 2050, “increasing the probability of more destructive flooding and inundation of major cities.” That doesn’t even take into account subsidence. When that’s added in, the researchers say, up to 536 square miles of US coastal land is under threat — and so are up to 273,000 people and their properties. … It is the “inevitable continued rise” that nags. Unlike other, more immediate threats, the power of erosion comes from its relentlessness. Water always wins. The ocean is relentless, turning mountains into sand.