When the tide gets high enough on Skidaway Island near Savannah, water can wash over the bulkhead that’s meant to protect the University of Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.
It’s not usually enough water to threaten their buildings, according to institute Director Clark Alexander.
“But it is a reminder that we have protection up to a certain limit,” he said.
This weekend could be one of those times when the tides push the limits for coastal Georgia. It’s not because of a storm, but thanks to unusually high tides.
Because of sea level rise, more and more often, high tides bring in enough water to flood low-lying areas. The tide gauge at Fort Pulaski, on Cockspur Island where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic Ocean near Tybee Island, is the only one on Georgia’s coast. That gauge set a record of 13 high tide flood days in 2019 and tied that record in 2022.
Alexander said he’s watched the tides change over his more than three decades at Skidaway.
“I can remember just a few times when we would have high enough tides with enough onshore winds for us to have water coming over our bulkhead,” he said. “But in the last five years, it’s been an annual event. And so, we are seeing the effects of rising tides, and rising sea levels as well.”
To help the coast prepare for the future, a team from Georgia Tech has partnered with a host of coastal organizations to install sea level sensors. The project started five years ago in the Savannah area, but it’s now expanding to map water levels up and down the coast.
Russ Clark, a senior research scientist at Georgia Tech, says it’s important to have solid numbers on coastal flooding and sea level rise. He leads the project.
“It’s no longer just anecdotal conversations with people about, ‘Hey, my neighborhood floods all the time,’” he said. “Now they can show, ‘Look, this is where the water gets, you know, eight times a year, this is where the water gets two times a year, this is what happens in a major storm.’”
Government leaders can then use that data to figure out where to raise a road or improve the drainage – and to map out evacuation routes that don’t flood. Eventually, the sea level sensor data could also help improve forecasting, so people can have a better idea of exactly how high the water will get at high tide.
Clark said the sensor data can also help make the concept of higher sea levels more concrete.
“The whole notion of an inch or two of sea level rise is just meaningless and kind of abstract,” he said.
Focusing instead on frequency of floods in certain places is easier to understand, he said.
“That’s something that we can tangibly explain,” Clark said.
Credit: Grist
Credit: Grist
MEET OUR PARTNER
This story was originally published by our partner, Grist, a nonprofit media organization covering climate, justice, and solutions. Sign up for their newsletter here.
If you have any feedback or questions about our partnerships, you can contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams via email at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
About the Author
