Coastal floods occur in the presence of a storm or by the action of tidal forces. Due to their impact, floods related to the strength of the tides will be addressed, namely high tide, also known as high tide.
This type of flooding is very frequent in population agglomerations close to the coastline, both on the American and European continents.. Only in the North American continent, in the year 2019, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, its acronym in English), recorded a total of more than 600 such floods.
We are currently in a phase where the tides are maximized by the gravitational pull of the Moon, with the next peak being in the mid-2030s
One new study, developed by NASA and for University of Hawaii, indicates that from 2030 high tides will flood increasingly larger areas of the coastline, due to the action of climate change. From the middle of that decade, the increase in flood levels will intensify, due to the combination of the aforementioned factor with the lunar cycle, being known the influence of the gravitational force of the planet Earth’s satellite on the Oceans.
This study, published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, is a pioneer in associating oceanic factors with astronomical factors in the analysis of the occurrence of coastal floods.
Climate Change: Study Projects Increase in Coastal Floods Starting in 2030 https://t.co/pYan0hBSL9
— EcoDebate Portal (@ecodebate) July 11, 2021
Consequences of Floods and the Moon Effect
Although the general public considering that coastal floods associated with tides are, in a way, less problematic, the authors of the study warn of the falsehood of this finding.. Generally speaking, storms move larger volumes of water, however, flooding by the force of the tides poses other types of problems in the long term.
In just over ten years, some coastal areas, as well as some large cities, for example Miami e Honolulu, can be flooded ten to fifteen times a month. This can have economic and social consequences, as it impedes the functioning of companies, pushing workers into unemployment. It can also have environmental consequences, since the basic sanitation network (domestic and even industrial effluents) can contaminate coastal waters.
From 2035 onwards, in some areas there may even be floods every one or two days. It is important to take into account the Moon’s action in this process. It is estimated that a lunar cycle lasts approximately 18.6 years, with direct implications for the height of the tides. – part of the cycle increases the tides, another part decreases.
We are, at this moment, in a phase where the tides are maximized by the gravitational attraction of the Moon, the next peak will be in the mid-2030s. There, with the average sea level at a much higher value, the number of floods will clearly be higher than today.
– .
