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With the effects of climate change continuing to progress sea-level rise, NASA is predicting that a “wobble” in the Moon’s orbit could lead to extraordinary high tides, causing devastating levels of flooding.
Upcoming changes to the Moon’s orbit could lead to record levels of flooding that could cause significant damage to infrastructure, as well as displace communities around the globe, CBS reported.
This week, a study published in the Journal Nature by NASA warned that upcoming changes to the Moon’s orbit could lead to record flooding on Earth during the next decade.
The findings involved mapping from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) sea-level rise scenarios, flooding thresholds, and astronomical cycles.
The gravitational pull of the Moon causes high and low tides. But the problem comes as climate change is affecting sea levels. However, what NASA fears is that a ‘wobble’ in the orbit of the Moon will enhance the effect of tides, high tide in particular, and with higher sea levels, this could be a significant problem.
Moon wobble is a natural occurrence was first observed and reported in 1728.
A period of higher and lower tides due to the Moon’s orbit occurs roughly every 18.6 years. Typically, these fluctuations aren’t dangerous.
However, due to climate change, sea-level rise is expected to worsen over the next decade, especially once we reach the 2030s.
More than 600 floods were reported in 2019. But NASA predicts American coastal cities could see 3 to 4 times that amount by the mid-2030s when the moon wobble exerts its gravitational pull on higher water levels in the world’s oceans.
Once we reach the 2030s, particularly the middle of the decade, NASA predicts that rising seas are anticipated to create more likely to produce more significant amounts of flooding.
The resultant flooding is expected to cause significant damage to infrastructure, as well as displace communities.
Experts say people living along coastlines should prepare right now by considering what they might do in such a scenario. For some people, it could mean thinking about relocating father inland within the next decade. And people who work at home should think about ways to protect their crucial data, such as backing their files up with cloud data security programs.
