How Does Sea Level Affect Salt Water Intrusion?

Rising sea level can be caused by a variety of factors and can have an effect or influence even more. Future changes in sea level may impact human populations around the world and many other aspects of life on Earth more than many initially thought. The U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico is on track to be one of the most impacted by further sea level rise and the outcome could be detrimental to the entire coastline.

I examine how rising or falling tide can affect the water level of Corte Madera Salt Marsh in this report. The data is from Wednesday (June 19th) and Thursday (June 20th). My hypothesis is that tide and water level have positive relationship. From the result, I learn that the water level and tide have positive relationship. However, when tide changes its direction, the water level is likely to stay or little change.

People living in Miami are in the face of danger, and for the most part they are not aware of it. Due to high population, Miami is the fourth largest city to become affected by sea level rise. (Ankum et al.) In the next 32-50 years, sea level is expected to rise by as much as two feet. (Ankum et al.) This two-foot rise will have detrimental effects on the urban settings of Miami. The amount of soil erosion that is undergoing at our beaches will greatly increase if a two-foot rise occurs. At a four-foot rise, road connectivity would begin to become affected. At a six-foot rise, Southern Florida would no longer be habitable as it would, for the most part, be underwater. Not much is being invested in mitigation efforts, most of what is being done are short term solutions. Instead of coming up with ideas to prevent and try to slow down the effects of climate change on our environment, we are focusing on ideas such as building up a sea wall, relocating power plants, and redesigning structures.

Since 1880, records show that the sea level has bone up 8 inches. If it goes up six more inches, as the current studies indicate could happen within 20 years, South Florida’s flood control would be devastated. In South Florida, taxpayers are already paying the price for climate change as salt-water pushes through porous bedrock into coastal drinking-water supplies, and rivers and canals choked by heavy rains have a harder time draining into the ocean.

In addition to submersion of the beaches, the city of Miami is actually experiencing the affects of global change already. When high amounts of precipitation fall upon Miami, floods tend to occur frequently. At 2 inches below sea level, Miami is already sitting in a bad position to deal with floods.

Saltwater intrusion leading to contaminated drinking water wells has long been feared in South Florida. Saltwater intrusion occurs naturally to some degree in most coastal aquifers, owing to the hydraulic connection between groundwater and seawater. Because saltwater has a higher mineral content than freshwater, it is denser and has a higher water pressure. There are three primary mechanisms by which saltwater contaminates the freshwater reservoir in the unconfined, surficial aquifers of the region: one, subsurface movement of seawater (lateral large-scale intrusion), two, seepage of seawater from tidal canals and streams, and three, upward movement of connate saltwater (water remaining from the

The sea levels are rising due to the compaction of the groundwater withdrawals, post-glaciation settling, and the effects from the meteor crater in the Chesapeake Bay. The sea levels are slowly rising in present day but with the hurricanes and nor'easters they help aid in making those levels rise faster of a period of time. If the climate warmed two degrees, the sea levels will rise which will cause the beaches to erode and create flooding. Due to sea levels rising, about 13.1 million people in Virginia will be displaced and approximately two billion people in the world. Coastal resilience is the community coming together to build a stronger community after extreme weather storms or any hazardous events. This is to make sure that the community is prepared for the next possible hazardous event so that the impact is less

Besides the direct effect of sea level rise, coastal flooding may also be a more prevalent and severe issue. For example, “sea level rise of two feet, without any changes in storms, would more than triple the frequency of dangerous coastal flooding throughout most of the Northeast” (Horton 374). The higher seas would increase the initial level, so that the flooding level would be much greater, especially during hurricanes. Recent hurricanes have become a good example of how much damage can occur to both humans and animals. For example, much of the coastal infrastructure is in danger of damage, which can affect commerce and the public’s health and safety: “In New York State, two feet of sea level rise is estimated...To flood or render unusable 212 miles of road, 77 miles of rail, 3,647 acres of airport facilities, and 539 acres of runways” (Horton 379). This loss of infrastructure may occur in every coastal Northeast state, especially in the south. In these southern Northeast states, the land is flat, which makes them easier to inundate with water. In addition to infrastructure, transportation is also at risk, with much of the major highways (I-95) and trains (Amtrak) at risk of coastal damage (Horton 380). More affected by sea level rise, ecosystems near water may be permanently damaged in upcoming years, and according to Rob Deconto, a climate scientist at University of

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, almost 40% of the population lives in high population-dense coastal areas. Around the world, eight of the world’s ten largest cities are situated near a coast, with about 250 million people living by a coast line less than 5 feet above sea level. It is projected that all of these people will be directly affected in some way by seawater rising in the future (Siegert, 2017). For the county of Orleans Parish, the rapid loss of coastal land is not a future scenario, but a current reality. Due to our unique geography, Louisiana loses about 16 square miles a year; the rapid erosion of Louisiana’s cost is only expected to accelerate over time. (Wernick, 2014).

When the sea level rises, this can be due to multiple factors including climate change and subsidence. Climate change and warming reports identify that “postglacial temperature has increased 13°F in the Gulf region” (Morton 22). This is important evidence because rising temperatures coincide with rising sea levels. As sea water warms, it expands and takes up more room causing sea levels to rise. Additionally, melting glacial ice cause the rise of sea level and is due to climate warming as

Miami-Dade County in Florida has long been a national famous spot for the risk of sea level rise and the amount of exposed assets. According to the National Wildlife Federation report, Miami is facing up to a $3.5 trillion loss by 2070, due to sea level rising caused by climate change . Global sea levels are raised by warming oceans, melting glaciers and ice sheets. Water can reach any level through various combinations of tide, storm surge and sea level rise. The common elevation above the local high tide line is dynamically set to be three feet based on historical average of the highest tide level each day from 1983 to 2001. Land below three feet in Miami is facing high coastal risk and social vulnerability for a 73 percent risk of at least

The Sea Level has increased over the past 200 years as average global temperatures have increased. The rise is due to two factors, the freshwater being added to the oceans from ice melt in the cryosphere, and the thermal expansion of the oceans due to rises in sea temperature. The sea level has risen 6 to 8 inches in the past 100 years. It is predicted to rise another 50 to 90 centimeters in the next century. As the sea level rises it’s jeopardizing rapidly growing coastal communities, which causes evacuation in some areas causing people to lose their homes. Sea level is the effect

The combination of these and other trends was an estimated average sea-level increase of 1.5mm per year between 1961 and 2003, which reached 2.4mm per year in the decade from 1993 to 2003. The decades prior to this trend showed only minor fluctuations in sea-level, suggesting that the current rate exceeds what could be caused by natural cycles. While the exact impact of rising oceans is difficult to determine, it is certain that the consequences will include some degree of flooding, integration of salt water into water tables, and a loss of land due to coastal erosion and submersion.6

Human-caused rise in sea levels is occurring all over the globe. Large areas along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast have experienced considerably higher frequencies of relative increases in sea level than the worldwide average over the past half-century, with the local variations essentially because of land subsistence (USGCRP, 2009). On the other hand, parts of the coast in Alaska and the Northwest have experienced a minor fall in the sea level due to a continuing uplift resulting from melting of glaciers and other geology-related processes.

There is limited accuracy to the usage of the models as the models are limited by assuming various situations. Altaie-Ashtiani et al (1999:18) gestates the rare occurrence of salt-water intrusion in ground water in two ways: the sharp-interface approach and the disperse interface approach. The sharp-interface approach is the approach in which it should be assumed that the salt water and fresh water are immiscible fluids which are separated by a sharp interface. This approach includes the diffusion and the effects of the hydrodynamic