NASA: Moon ‘wobble’ will cause dramatic increases in coastal flooding
A "wobble" in the moon's orbit will combine with rising sea levels due to the Earth's warming to bring "a decade of dramatic increases" in high-tide coastal floods across the U.S. in the 2030s, NASA warns in a new study.
Why it matters: Low-lying areas near sea level already increasingly at risk from flooding will see their situation "only get worse," per a statement from NASA administrator Bill Nelson.
"The combination of the Moon's gravitational pull, rising sea levels, and climate change will continue to exacerbate coastal flooding on our coastlines and across the world."
— Nelson
Of note: Phil Thompson, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii and the lead author of the study, published this month in Nature Climate Change, said high-tide floods involve less water than hurricane storm surges.
But "if it floods 10 or 15 times a month, a business can't keep operating with its parking lot under water," Thompson said.
"People lose their jobs because they can’t get to work," he added "Seeping cesspools become a public health issue."
The big picture: Scientists have known about wobbles in the orbit of the moon, which takes 18.6 years to complete, since 1728.